18 Minutes

It took me 18 minutes to get to work this morning.

Normally, it takes about 40. On rainy days, the day after Labor Day and Mondays it can take up to an hour to traverse the miles between my home and the office.

I owe today's commuting bliss to the death of a man I've never met.

Today is a day of mourning. At 9:30 a.m. EST, the bells at the National Cathedral tolled 38 times as the nation commenced a state funeral to honor the passing of former President Gerald R. Ford. The Presidents Bush, Henry Kissinger and Tom Brokaw delivered solemn eulogies, broadcast worldwide. Tomorrow, former President Jimmy Carter will eulogize him at a private funeral in Michigan.

The talking heads have been filling the airwaves with anecdotes, photographs and analysis of President Ford as a man, a president and a statesman. Two themes seem to run through the conversations - his pardon of former President Nixon and his background as a stalwart, upstanding Midwesterner. I've learned a lot about him over the past week. In history classes, President Ford generally warranted no more than a few cameo appearances as the one who pardoned Nixon, the one who oversaw the end of the Vietnam War and the man who was never elected the highest offices in which he served. In the past week, I've learned about his upbringing in Michigan, about how much he loved the House of Representatives and how his blundering remark about those under the Iron Curtain's rule likely cost him are return to power - all things I failed to learn in my prior study of American history.

It is in death, however, that he directly impacted my life. On this, the national day of mourning for Ford, Federal employees nationwide got another day added to their holiday weekend. The rest of us in the DC area got to bask in their absence on semi-empty streets.

I paid my own homage to President Ford as I zipped along at a respectable 60 miles per hour into the office. It is much easier to pause and contemplate someone's contributions when not stuck behind a sea of red tail lights. May Ford's family have the arms of the divine wrapped around them mourn their husband, father and grandfather. May their love grow deeper as they lay him to rest. May he rest in peace.