On June 2, 2012, Cody Zaeske, a junior at East Troy High School broke the WI Division 2 State Meet Long Jump record held by my dad, Ken Peterson, set in 1966. Here is an excerpt from Madison.com.
East Troy’s Zaeske fells a golden oldie: Of the 25 meet records that fell this weekend, none was as old as the one East Troy junior Cody Zaeske dusted Saturday afternoon.
Zaeske went 23 feet, 8 ¾ inches to win the Division 2 long jump and break the 1966 divisional record (23-1 ¾) set by Grafton’s Ken Peterson. It came on Zaeske’s final try of finals.
“I jumped 23 at regionals, but breaking the state record is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” “It felt like someone was pushing me in the back. I couldn’t believe (how long) I was in the air. I saw I was past the state record mark and I went crazy.”
Afterward, Zaeske revealed one motivation for having a big meet -- brother Cory, a sophomore at UW-Whitewater who placed fourth at last month’s NCAA Division III meet (24-7 ¼).
“Jumping’s in the family,” Zaeske said.
Read more: http://host.madison.com/sports/high-school/track/article_848daa34-ace8-11e1-9687-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz1y4zTowlW
This week, my step-father forwarded an email from Bob Wundrock, a high-school teammate of my dad's, to Cody to give him a glimpse at who Ken Peterson was. The two images alongside are scanned copies of an article from the Ozakee County newspaper written on June 4, 1986, 22 days after he died.
Lastly, Bob also forwarded a video of my dad doing the long jump in 1965.
Ever since I was in high school (secretly hoping to break his record myself), I have been aware of the record and every year around this time, I check the results of the state meet, to see if it survived another year. This year, it was only because of this email that I was aware that his record had been broken, mainly because it is a little harder to follow US sports here in South Africa and the seasons are backwards, meaning it feels much more like late football season then track season here.
Anyway, this day had to come and now that it has, and it is a little bittersweet. The record was a part of my dad's legacy, a piece of him that I could hold on to, and now that it is gone, it feels like I have lost a little bit of him. I was 11 years old when he died, 26 years ago, and the impact of his death still hits me like a brick sometimes. His record being broken, coupled with the article from 1986, and the video has just stirred the emotions all up again. I can't help but think, what could have been?
Now, it is pointless to walk down this road, there is nothing that can be done to change what happened, but it is inevitable from time to time to wonder. Questions will just pop into my head, like with his help, could I have been a better jumper, instead of the distance runner that I became? Or at those times of crisis, what pearls of wisdom would he have shared? The questions go on and on.
The road eventually leads to the big question of: Why? Why did this have to happen? When any tragedy occurs, it is our natural human reaction to ask why. I would love to say that over time it all makes sense, but that would be a lie. Time does heal some of the pain and life eventually moves on, but the wound left behind by the tragedy never fully heals, periodically getting reopened.
Today is Fathers Day and this tends to be a day when the pain resurfaces, particularly the question of what could have been? This morning at church, as they were celebrating fathers and had kids hug their dad and Aaron gave one of his precious hugs, I was overwhelmed with the whole thing. Last night, I realized that on May 13 (anniversary of dad's death) this year, I was 37 years old the same age as he was when he died. The question that I could not shake this morning was what if I am not around for Aaron?
Again, another question with no conclusive answer. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee for tomorrow. As is evidence by what happened to our friends in Madison, Jon & Amy, tragedy can strike at any time. Their 7 year old son died last week when a car jumped a curb, bounced off a tree and landed on the picnic table where they were eating. Absolutely tragic.
Okay, before this spirals too far downhill, tragedy is unfortunately a part of life, but we can not let it control who we are. There are ways to survive tragedy, first holding on to the love that we have for those around us, second treasuring the memories that we still have and for me personally, I have relied heavily on the hope that I have in Christ Jesus. I love my dad and look forward to seeing him again, but until that day, I miss him and wish that he were still here.
