Freaked out

Haven't done much robot work lately because we've been helping our older son get ready for his move to St. Thomas. So robot building is in the background. Jeff's moving there with no job, no place to stay and very little in the way of contacts so if anyone out there in cyberspace has any tips of wisdom, let me know.

I did do some sailing this weekend, once with Jeff. The second time, I went out to the causeway and a crazy storm blew in and nailed us in a matter of minutes ... literaly. One minute it was beautiful blue skies and a slight breeze. Five minutes later, I looked back and the sky turned black and 30-40 mph winds blew through and challenged my sailing abilities to the max. My little sea kayak/sailboat worked well except for a problem with the sails reefing slippage. But the thing that completely freaked me out as I was tacking back toward land was a kite surfer I was watching. A kite surfer is a person who straps themself to a kite and has a surfboard attached to their feet. The kite sometimes raises them 10-20 feet above the water and it is an amazing thing to watch. But I would never try it. So as I'm fighting this terrible storm with every bit of strength I had, I noticed this kite surfer about 25 feet above the ground over by the causeway. As I watched the kite, a large blinding explosion flashed and I saw the poor boy's body thrown quite a distance. The wind blew him out of control and he went airborn over land on the causeway and blew right into a transformer and power lines. The sight completely freaked me out in the storm and I'm sure I'll never forget that terrible image. After I finally got back to land I found out he was still alive but one side of him was burnt real bad and he was bleeding from the mouth with internal bleeding. I prayed hard for him and his family.

Crazy stuff can happen to anyone out of the blue. So appreciate and love the people around you and let them know it all the time. And don't sweat the small stuff.

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NOTE ADDED SEVERAL WEEKS LATER: The young kite surfer is OK !!!! He was in serious condition for awhile but it looks like he's going to be all right. It's miraculous he lived so I had to post an update here.