My friend took that quote that I love about love and made it into a glorious picture for me. I am too busy howling, I will let my dad’s words tell you why.
“It is with great sorrow to post of my son in law Alan Hewitt passing yesterday. He was loving father, husband, marine, mountain man and all around great man. His service to this country took a toll on his body leaving him to face many grueling injuries,and recoveries with determination and true grit. At times bound to a wheel chair but only briefly he would rebound with a determination and will that would shame an ordinary mortal. I am thankful for the joy he brought to my daughter Brook in the many years they spent together, and for my grandson Casey. If he instilled in him just half of his gumption Casey will have a solid foundation on which to build.
What war, injury, pain, enemy bullets, bombs, and the elements could not accomplish sweet sleep could. He will be sorely missed.
The following is an article from the news about a mishap that happened a couple of years ago that for me sums up his tremendous fortitude in the face of adversity.
A Prineville hunter who spent four days and three nights lost deep in the woods, injured and starving, got out of the hospital Thursday, thankful to be alive, to his rescuer, to his Marine training — and to the “higher power” that helped him survive the frigid ordeal.”The last day was pretty — it was getting pretty rough,” said Alan Hewitt. “I wasn’t delirious, but all things weren’t kosher, I know that.”It was a harrowing Thanksgiving weekend for Hewitt, in which he questioned at times whether he’d make it out of the woods at all after his week-long hunting trip went awry.Hewitt, 48, said from his bed at St. Charles Medical Center-Bend, shortly before his discharge, what he felt kept him alive after his horse, Vegas, slipped on a log while he was out hunting on Thanksgiving Day in the Ochoco National Forest southeast of Walton Lake.The fall slammed them both into a tree, knocking Hewitt unconscious.When he came to, in nearly two feet of snow and below-freezing temperatures, hours had gone by. He had no food, and a GPS unit that was dying.”I was cold — extremely cold,” Hewitt said. “During the daylight hours, I tried to get as much movement as I could. I hunkered down in a fetal position, and just make nursery rhymes in my head, like, ‘Wiggle your nose, wiggle your toes — wiggle your nose, wiggle your knees,’ to keep your body moving.’Hewitt said he chewed on pine needle seeds, and was able to pop his shoulder back into its socket to keep trudging on, trying to find the forest road where hunters come and go, and maybe a shot at getting home.”Walking during the day, and during the night, I’d make bivys (shelters),” he recalled. “I’d just find a group of trees that were blocking the wind so I could cove the horse in there, so she’d be protected from the wind.:Thanksgiving went by, then Friday too, and Saturday, then nightfall once more. Finally, late Sunday, he made it to the hunting road, and collapsed.Just 45 minutes later, Hewitt believes, hunter Darrell Hover of Bend and his father were driving by, making one last look for elk, when he spotted what looked like a red piece of clothing.They stopped to see what it was.Hover later recalled, “I saw his (Hewitt’s) eyes, and they were just staring straight ahead — looked like he was catatonic. And I realized then that he was hurt, and needed help. I said, ‘You need help?’ And he said, ‘I need help.'”And I said, ‘How long have you been here?’ And I thought he’d say ’15 minutes’ or ’20 minutes.’ But he said, ‘Four days.’Hewitt also remembers that moment, and besides thinking of his wife and five kids, he said he thought: “There’s warmth. There is hope.””I made it. That’s all I could think — I made it.’Now, Hewitt said, “I’m very thankful for Darrell. I’m very thankful for the knowledge I learned in the Marine Corps, and the faith I have in what I call my higher power.”Hewitt was treated at the Bend hospital for dehydration and a dislocated shoulder. His horses were rescued later by the Crook County Sheriff’s Office and are back home in good shape.Hewitt said the frightful experience won’t change his outlook on the wilderness — and won’t stop him from hunting in the future.”
Brook Art Human. A story, a yarn, a line, a shape 
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