Goodbye
Yesterday I attended the funeral for Eduardo Pose. I was honored to be chosen to say a few words to express the friendships Eddie had with his work colleagues.
This is what I shared:
We stand here today to remember Eddie as a colleague and a friend.
After a stint with the private company TTM, Eddie pursued a career at Brisbane City Council with the City Design branch in 2003 before joining Development Assessment team in 2004. He rejoined City Design in 2008 as a Design Project Manager with the bikeways team, where he could merge his passion for bikes and engineering work. Eddie was involved in the successful delivery of the $100M bikeway program between 2008-11. Eddie transferred to the Flood Management team in early 2011 to help with flood recovery work.
Eddies contribution at BCC was acknowledged by the CEO himself. Colin Jenson thanked Eddie for his contributions, in particular his work in the Norman Creek Bikeway Project which was hailed as a huge success as it was delivered within budget and ahead of schedule.
Eddie wasn't just a great work colleague; he was a great friend. He was always willing to lend a hand or share a conversation.
I became close friends with Eddie when he joined the Flood Management team. We quickly figured out that we had a mutual passion for all things cycling. We would discuss any and every thing cycling - brands of groupsets, favourite riders, favourite races, our next upgrades and planning out next ride. This would continue on & off the bike, at lunchtime, on email and over the phone. Safe to say, I haven't met anyone else who liked to talk bikes as much as Eddie.
Of course from his point of view, the Spanish cyclists were the cleanest riders on the planet. It was everyone else that was bringing cycling down with scandals. Whilst he was of Spanish heritage, his love for things Italian knew no bounds. I am sure that if he was given a bike with the best and most expensive Japanese components - he would promptly sell it for one with affordable mid-range gear.
My favourite memory of Eddie was the day we rode up Mt Mee with a few other cycling friends. New to cycling, I had never ridden up a climb that long or that high before - and was convinced I would be walking to the top. But Eddie waved off my uncertainty and assured me that could do it. The group cycled into Dayboro and as the road started to rise, the more experienced riders pulled ahead. Taking Eddies advice I kept my own pace, steadied my breathing and enjoyed the scenery. Sure enough as I reached the crest Eddie was there cheering and was the first to congratulate me on my first 'real mountain climb'. The photo of him giving me the thumbs up is from that morning and captures Eddie perfectly.
Other friends have mentioned times when they would go riding with Eddie, and although he would be barely warmed up, Eddie would gladly turn back if they were too tired to continue. He was quite content to leave it at that and keep you company instead of riding on without you.
Another memory of Eddie shared was when he was asked to give a brief talk on a topic of interest during a regular team meeting. Most people in this situation would create a PowerPoint or Q&A style presentation - but not Eddie. At this stage he had been teaching yoga for some time and so he decided to run a small yoga session with his team. It was highly entertaining for Eddie to watch all the yoga novices attempt the various positions he was demonstrating. It was a lot of fun and brought enjoyment to the team.
Most of us remember Eddie for his immense positivity, even over his biggest battles against cancer. There was hardly a time when Eddie would whinge or be critical or something....well maybe with the exception of Apple Products. And although he wasn't a fan of the iPhone or iPad he still had good things to say about them - that's just how he was.
In the relatively short time we knew Eddie, there was never a dull moment. He had an incredible zest for life, loved to travel, was always enthusiastic and as you now know was contagiously passionate about cycling. Eddie was well balanced and wished that everyone in the world would accept everyone for who they are and what they believed in, instead of being judgmental and critical about others choices.
In the last few weeks of his life, Eddie said that if he had the energy he would do his bit in making the world a better place. But we all know he didn't have to - because if you look around this room today, all of us have become better people just by knowing him. And to me, that means that Eduardo Pose has already made this world a better place.
The ceremony really was beautiful. It was made even more special because Eddie himself picked out the words and songs he wanted. He wrote a short reflection on life which was included in the handout - and a slideshow of photographs was set to 2 songs of his choosing; Foreigner - "I wanna know what love is" and Rebecca Ferguson - "Nothing's real but love".
It really was a great way to celebrate his life. While it was a sad occasion, it was so nice to be able to share funny stories and photos of him and share a laugh. He would've wanted it that way. Liz shared that his final wishes included that his ashes should be spread over Mt Mee, Mt Nebo and Mt Glorious. These were his favourite places to visit. Every now and then, I want to ride up these mountains and take in the scenery, breathe in the crisp air and think of him.
Reflections
Bianca and I drove up to Caloundra after the ceremony and we had time to reflect on it and life in general.
I really do regret that I didn't get to know Eddie better. We were primarily cycling buddies, but in the last year we really started to touch on more in-depth topics in life. Love, marriage, kids, houses, happiness, peace, war and wellness are some of the things we had chatted about. We shared our ideas, thoughts and opinions. We really started to have a great friendship.
At the ceremony it became apparent to me that there was so much more to Eddie than I knew - so many other interests and hobbies which we had not shared yet. And it makes me sad to know that I have missed the opportunity to have him teach me some yoga or ask him about android phones or his past trips overseas.
Bianca and I decided that we wanted to take some learnings from Eddies life. The main one being to live simpler with a focus on love & happiness. From small day-to-day things like sharing lunch together to bigger changes like altering diet and lifestyle choices. I am excited to see what path it takes us on. Even in the sadness and negativity of death, there can be a positive outcome.
Thank you, Eddie.
Enjoying a sunrise walk on the rocks at Caloundra
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