Monday, December 22, 2008

You can't put a price on joy.

After a hectic couple of weeks running around Christmas shopping, I was starting to feel worn down by the holiday more than anything else. Saturday seemed far removed from that, however. On that day, a special group of people gathered at Steve Rex Cycles to have a raffle for not just one but two of Steve's custom hand-made bikes.

Steve was badly injured last month on the River Ride, suffering a horribly fractured hip and elbow, an especially terrible thing for someone who makes a living on his feet. To make maters worse, his teenage daughter tripped into a campfire, getting 2nd degree burns on her arms. Dave Burke of Rio Strada Racing got a great idea a few weeks ago to have a raffle for one of Steve's bikes. The idea was to sell tickets for $10 a pop. Anything in excess of the $2500 grand prize would go to the family. He had no idea how big it would get! The raffle raised almost $30,000!

Before we drew the names at the raffle, Steve and his wife, Peggy, said a few words. He talked about how he was overwhelmed by the response from people. Peggy talked about how it made the last 20 years of his work seemed validated. To me it seemed really simple. You can't put a price on joy. A beautiful custom built bike makes joy in a person's life. Think of all of the happiness he has created for people, not just by making nice bikes, but by being a good person--someone down-to-earth who listens and creates. It's only karma paying him back. Now if that isn't a Merry Christmas, I don't know what one is.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

great - I was on FB took a little detour and now I'm crying -

Sacwheelgirl said...

Oh Jen! :)

He really is a special guy and his bikes rock. I can't wait to get one. It was a special day-- I cried some tears.