By Galen Call
Life is a marathon. Whether actually running to a finish line or slowly raising a family. I have done both, and I now apply the concept to the long metaphorical road ahead and to the slow but sure improvements of my daily habits that I try to cultivate in order to grow strong and intentional. Although the marathon has its roots in ancient and legendary Greek foot races, the word has a new meaning for me, layered in interpretation for everyday living. When I look back now over my life, I see one marathon after another, and most of them were not experienced in a pack of fellow runners. Yet each of these personal marathons did have their sweet rewards.
Weston, my son, pursued life as though it were a marathon, too. He was always on-the-go and engaging a spirit of positivity. As a very young child, he possessed a participatory essence about him which amused and amazed our friends. As a toddler, he’d happily run into their arms or gleefully pay with a new babysitter waving us out the door, equally excited to hang with Weston while we were gone. He simply got along with whomever he met, and the trend continued—or even intensified—as he journeyed into adulthood.
Time marched on as his marathon continued. His maturing spirit was taking root and his vision was becoming clearer. Weston’s life challenges were met with a can-do attitude, with a twist of creativity, ingenuity, and resilient drive. In Big Sur, his thoughtful solutions to traffic and over tourism emerged, combating decades long issues of how to move visitors from one spot to another. He focused on how to educate them about preservation, respectful visitation and how to “leave no trace”. Weston embodied a self-invented acronym of LOVE— a Locally Organized Visitor Experience He was bridging hopes and dreams and disrupting the status quo in such a positive, proactive and enthusiastic way, and people took notice. People took so much notice, in fact, that some wanted more of his energy than time could ever allow. If you were down, Weston seemed to always show up, to pick you up and continue the journey forward. I have been told by many, many people—who’s lives Weston touched along his personal Marathon—that he had the unique capacity to ignite a spark in others to be the change.
As the Marathon continues, Weston’s lasting legacy and legend has just begun.
