Dana & Chris Reeve Together Again

Last August (2005) I submitted a post to this blog on Dana Reeve's fight with cancer. Dana Reeve, widow of Superman actor Christopher Reeve, lost her battle with lung cancer last night (March 06th, 2006). Dana, born in 1961, was a non-smoker. She leaves behind her thirteen year old son, Will Reeve, and two stepchildren.

I find it difficult to accept that Dana has departed us so soon - she was a shining beacon. She was a woman I deeply admired.

So often we see marriages fail for one reason or another. The unbreakable bonds of matrimony fall by the wayside more often than not in our modern society.

Couples who start out with the best of intentions within just a few short years come to find that living with one another is an unbearble burden. In the past, when divorce was considered scandalous, couples were forced to tough it out. Many times that meant that one spouse simply had no choice, and tolerated an abusive spouse no matter what the personal cost. But in some of those cases staying together meant that both of those involved continued working on their marriage, and made it work - or at least waited it out.

Today marriage, and divorce are synonymous, and commitment has become simply an ideal.

Certainly the horse riding accident which left Christopher Reeve a quadraplegic was a pivotal event in the marriage of Dana and Chris. There must have been many nights filled with tears, and fears - of wondering "Why me?", and of mourning over what might have been.

Yet it was during this period of the Reeve's marriage that their wedding vows spoke most loudly in the heart, mind, and soul of this beautiful, and loving couple.

Dana did not abandon her fallen Superman for being a mere mortal. Instead of opting out of their marriage she made a baby with Chris. Their relationship only deepend as these two wonderful people chose to use their time to help others similarly challenged.

We see in their life together the fate of two souls who found each other, loved each other, created life from their own, and then departed together from this plane of existence.

We must not mourn for them, but instead for our loss at their departure.

The Greeks dealt with such stories in their Tragedies. In this modern day Homeric tragedy the story is now complete - for the fallen hero, and his brave, and loyal wife have now ascended into the realm of the gods, and have become the stuff of legends.

It is we who survive who must now come to face that which they have already passed. Let us hope that each of us in the end may look back upon our days, and see those days filled with as much dignity, grace, and goodness.

Dana, and Chris you will not be forgotten.