Craig Radiated Joy

Last year Craig came to a cooking class I was teaching at the Provo Macey's. It took me a while to realize that he was missing his right hand, but his positive attitude and sense of humor were obvious from the very beginning. His positive spirit just shone. After the class, I heard him discussing the loss of his hand with some of the other class members, and I was amazed at his cheerful attitude. He laughingly called himself "The Posterchild for Fireworks Safety" and joked about how he was going to overcome the difficulties of becoming a one-handed chiropractor. A couple of months later I attended a Provo Macey's cooking class at which Craig was the teacher. I dragged my younger sister with me, telling her how obviously good he was, and trying to get her to ask him out. He was cooking some kind of Peanut Chicken, and I remember his smile as he held a peanut butter jar with his hooked arm and removed the lid with his left hand. He said: "You can use any kind of peanut butter you like. I don't use Peter Pan . . . for obvious reasons!" There was a young lady helping Craig cook at that class, and my sister was convinced that they were dating, so she didn't approach him. But this morning her eyes were wet as she told me that she'd just realized who the young man who'd been lost in the lake was. We hadn't remembered his name, but the joy he found in life and radiated to others was unforgettable. We both cried a bit, but then thought: I wonder what Craig's reaction would be to having both hands again? And the thought of the things he was likely to say couldn't help but make us smile.

--Betsy Thomas