Steve Irwin "Croc Hunter" dead?

I still can't believe it! Steve Irwin, the famous "Crocodile Hunter" who was at once a showman, enviromentalist, loving husband and father and thrilled millions with his Crocodile and snake antics died during a freak encounter with a Stingray on Sunday Sept. 3 09H00 Eastern Standard time. I found out about his death at around 6 AM this morning while surfing some blogs because I couldn't sleep. I came across a blog from a woman in the UK who mentioned Steve Irwin's passing. Thinking she was referring to another Steve Irwin I read on and discovered to my horror that she was writing about the Croc hunter, Mr. Crikey! himself. I was stunned. A quick scans of the BBC site and CNN reveiled that indeed he had died during a snorkelling dive to film some footage for his 8 year old daughter's upcoming television series on the more peaceful animals of the sea. His passing has affected me rather deeper than I thought it would, or is that should? I'm not sure, perhaps it is because 3 years ago I came close to a brush with death due to a virus-induced heart failure or perhaps I feel more in tune with my mortality as I have a 3 year old daughter and I want so much to see her grow up, but lately there have been several deaths that have touched me. The first was many years ago now when I found out that John Denver had died in an airplane accident over the Pacific. I loved his music as many millions other have and I found he had a wonderful stage presence. I wasn't blogging then and so never put down in words how I felt at the time of his death, but I do remember that I had a certain empty feeling in one small corner of my mind. Then much more recenlty it was the untimely death of Laura Branigan which again brought small pangs of quiet angst and reminded me again of how fragile we are and no matter how much fame and fortune one had, when your time comes...

So I'll probably go to bed tonight thinking of Terri Irwin and the children that Steve left behind. He died pursuing something he loved and seemingly at peace with the world, we should all be so lucky to go in the same emotional circumstances. I go back to work tomorrow after 10 days off and I'm still recuperating from a walking pneumonia that I had some three weeks ago. I wanted so much to write about some of my projects, but at the moment my mind just isn't into it. Perhaps in a few days when I've settled back into a routine I may decide to step back and take a look at what the Summer has brought. Autumn is just around the corner and the kids are back at school and one of my favourite seasons is about to start. I've always loved Autumn with its crisp mornings, colourful bounty and the revival of energy that seems to beat in the city. Everything starts anew and with that comes hopes and endless possibilities. I have many projects underway and many more on the backburner just waiting their turn to get some time and attention form yours truly. I hope to write about many of these in the near future.

thanks for reading.

Stefano