If it is a sad story, & I agree it looks like one (…oh the kids and the bride…sheez), it does perhaps have one okay aspect to reflect on. 

As someone who nearly died in a California snowstorm incident, I have some consolation to share:  As anybody who has lived above the grapevine knows, when the weather comes in nasty, the highways get mostly impassable ~ no, not just wussy SoCal impassable…wise guys…but, actually treacherous and deadly.  So the highway patrol closes off the pass with big gates and all those who made the cut-off get escorted-by-caravan up through the pass.  Well, after working all day, sometimes the notion of spending the night in a motel instead of going home-sweet-home just sucks…so my brother in-law & I used to occasionally take (what is called) the old road through the pass.  We’d done it enough times to know we could…with 4 wheel drive and a little patience.  This one night I really needed to be home, …so when I missed the cut-off, I took the back way to the old road and started uphill.  Didn’t give it a second thought. 

Well…a good 2/3 the way up…& way off the beaten trail…I lost power, the headlights went dead…the truck stalled…& I knew I was a little fucked when I checked around under the hood and couldn’t find anything obvious like a loose connector [what it actually turned-out to be] or anything else…& we didn’t have cell phones at that time ~ probably wouldn’t have had a signal anyway.  So…long story short I closed myself up in the cab wrapped in the two blankets I had & got to thinking about some things obvious and other things obscure…. Until the wind and cold became too unbearable in the truck & I went looking for a place out of the wind to dig in, which I found.  Hunkered in and wrapped head to toe in blankets again…I began to get sleepy as the wee hours began to add more creepy thoughts to my solemn repertoire of last ditch notions.  I new I couldn’t walk it out, I knew my bride was expecting me, I knew my bro in-law was home…and knew about the old road and my obstinacy.  So I sipped little sips of what was left of a large cold cup of coffee & got more & more relaxed…until I eventually began to think very happy thoughts…about very meaningful things of epiphany & warm sorrow…to the point where even the desolate thoughts were peaceful as well…and I drifted, surprisingly comfortable…if a little…prickly, …off into unconsciousness for what was probably a few hours.  When I woke-up I was in my bro’s arms…barely walking to his truck…then I remember Atom Heart Mother…then I was home…and being helped into the house…a little warn out…a little giddy with joy & love for my bro & my wife & son…and itchy/prickly with the heat coming back…and not really all that much more worse for the ware.  The next day, it was a beautiful day & we went & got the truck.

Funny…life.  My point is…freezing in the wilderness, in my experience, can be a rather mellow way to go.  My dad, who knew the bitter snows of the Korean War, also claimed that guys just lay down and went to sleep with sad smiles on their faces, acquiescing to the rest and dying right there beside him ~~ nothing he could do to convince 'em to keep fighting the sleep.

Here’s to Mr. Kim being found alive and persevering…. 

…Peace….