Blessed life

Saturday while out on a water testing project with my two youngest daughters and grandson, my daughter witnessed a horrific crash. It happened after she pulled out from the water authority. And she saw a car smash so hard into a truck that the truck went flying.

After it was over, she called me in hysterics. She had parked her car safely and then ran over to help the people out of the vehicles. She described trying to help a teenaged boy out of the truck who was horribly cut. And screaming. And kicking. And she saw his mother who was trapped in the vehicle trying desparately to reach him. And my daughter helped until the paramedics arrived.

She described her terror in going to the vehicles and what she would see but she said that there was no way she could NOT go and help. I know that she will carry the horror of the this experience with her forever. But I am so thankful to her and to people like her. I'm thankful for the paramedics, EMTs, who voluntarily offer their time to help people. What nightmares they must have night after night. Life is good. People are good. We just don't always hear about the goodness.

And although the victims in the accident were injured - the boy had severe head and arm injuries - they are alive. My daughter is hoping to find out how the boy is now 2 days later.

Respecting the distance

I don't often talk about truly stupid things that I do. But this stupid thing could have had long lasting consequences.

For my 47th birthday, I ran a marathon in my hometown. This was my second marathon and somewhat of an anomoly because I avoid my hometown like the plaque and because the thought of a 26.2 mile run in the hottest month of summer has never been appealing to me.

I was not ready for this marathon. I had a stomache virus the week before and never really regained my strength. And I was make a 16 hour drive the day after. But I thought that I could muscle through the 26.2 miles.

Iwas doing well for the first 9 miles. The first 4 were uphill and were the section of our track runs when I was in high school. But I hit mile 10 and it was apparent that my body wasn't happy with me.

Oh, I finished it. I walked quite abit. My parents, kids, and brothers were waiting for me at the end and my kids actually ran the last quarter mile around the school track. It was wonderful and I will run it next year. And I'll be prepared because I don't think I could fake a marathon without injury again.

Oh, and I came in first in my age group.

Because there were only two of us.

Some more . . .

Hermit Island -

Hermit Island

Vacation is over. We're back home now but still basking in the post vacation honeymoon. It's amazing that a week we've been waiting for all year is over in the blink of an eye.

But this year, I didn't spend a minute of my time while on vacation thinking about work. I thoroughly enjoyed the timelessness of life on the beach. Every year we discover more and more of the island. This year we checked out Sand Dollar Beach. This year we didn't have the money for gas to drive further up in Maine and hike. That left us with a lot of time for adventure and just doing nothing but enjoying life without clocks, phones, or televisions.

I could get used to that life.