Gone Too Soon

Last night, a young man named Steve Caynon died. He was only 24. Steve worked with us while he was a student at Kent State University and was smart and funny and clever and (really important for a student worker) reliable. When he first got sick a couple of years ago, it caught us all off guard but I think we all believed that he would eventually recover. He did go into remission, only to lose ground again. Steve was an artist and a musician, along with being a great guy. He will be missed.

Steve’s death reminded me of a couple of folk musicians who left this earth too early. Eva Cassidy was a beautiful singer who was on the brink of leaving her “day job” and devoting her complete attention to her music when she died in 1996 at 33 of melanoma. Guitarist Jeff Buckley literally got sucked away while swimming in the Wolf River outside of Memphis. At 31, he too was right on the edge of “making it.” What does all of this mean? I don’t think anyone can build a career faster than it wants to be built, but if you have a dream, don’t waste time, live life with a full vigor. There are no guarantees.