I will not bore you will another droll description of how we continue to work on sorting and putting away all of the stuff we brought from the US or the mundane work it takes to un-mothball Leu Cat after sitting by herself for 7 months. You have had enough of that already. Instead, I will share another death defying incident that my brother Don posted on his face book yesterday.

As you may recall, Don is my older brother and he suffered a massive heart attack last summer. In fact, he coded twice after he got to the hospital. Each time he coded, the dedicated staff at the hospital brought him back to life. After triple bypass surgery and a few stints, his is doing very well. In fact, we were able to play golf together both during his youngest daughter’s wedding this last May and again in June when we were able to visit him and his wife, Debbie, at their beautiful home in Waterford, Connecticut. It was a real treat for me since I was not sure that we would ever be able to do that again.

Don is a world renowned educator and holds a Distinguished Chair at the University of Connecticut. As such, he travels around the world as an invited speaker to various educational conferences and programs. His specialty is the use of the Internet as an educational tool. He and Debbie have written numerous books together on this subject.

This last week his was traveling to North Carolina to speak at the North Carolina School Superintendents Association’s Summer Institute. Here is what he posted on his Facebook page:
“Flight to Charlotte diverted to Columbia, SC because of t-storms (thunder). We did not arrive at a ramp. They allowed us to leave the plane and walk on the tarmac to the airport. A bright ball of lightning hit right next to me and struck the woman behind me. EMT finally came and took her to the hospital. She had not revived. Very sad.”

I just about jumped out of my seat when I read this. Lightning is a hazard we cruisers are fearful of and during our eight years of cruising, Mary Margaret and I have seen our fair share of close calls regarding lightning strikes. We also have met a number of cruisers who have been struck, fortunately only incurring damage to their respective boats and electrical equipment.

When and where lightning strikes are a mystery and one cannot predict it nor prevent it. On a boat, there is no known proven way to avoid it. You must just keep faith and sail on. To have it happen on land and have it strike the person that is right behind you must be a very unnerving experience, especially when that person dies from the strike.

Mary Margaret is a strong believer that her guardian angels work overtime in protecting her from various potential calamities. It appears that my brother’s guardian angels are also working overtime to protect him. That or he is like a cat with 9 lives. Stay well, bro. We love you.