Have you ever had one of those ‘bad karma’ days when things were just off?  Our family has them occasionally, when things are out-of-sync.  Ours are usually marked by 3 “near misses” or close calls.  Friday was one of those days . . .

Vacation this year consisted of staying close to home with some day trips to local area lakes for boating, as our spring break trip to CPAC in Washington D.C. (more on this later) consumed most of our annual vacation funds.  The kids had been wanting to get wake boards so my husband located a couple of used ones in Austin.   We’d pick up the boards then spend the day on Lake Austin.

En route a compartment of our boat sprung open – first incident.   Luckily my husband is in the habit of glancing in the rear view mirror frequently when pulling a load.  Disaster was averted and no permanent damage done just some minor repairs to be done during the off season.  After making it safely to the boat ramp and launching our boat it began making funny noises.  A brief inspection revealed the culprit was low power-steering fluid.  Not a show stopper but still enough to qualify as incident two.

Still unaware that we were in the midst of ‘one of those days’ the kids began piloting the wake boards.  First Jack, then Anne and rounding out with Ty, our 9 year old.  Like the other two, Ty got up on the board immediately and skimmed across the water with relative ease.  After tiring he wiped out and we were preparing to go back and pick him up when incident three commenced . . .

Never taking my eyes off Ty floating in the water I see a jet ski with 2 people come in to view.  Moving closer and at a high rate of speed I notice they’re traveling in our wake and heading straight for Ty.  I watch from the back of the boat – frozen – as they lunge ever closer never changing course.  Closer, CLOSER,  it occurs to me that they don’t see him and are going to run over my kid right in front of very eyes!  Feeling like I’m about to jump out of my skin I go nuts . . . screaming, jumping up and down, helplessly flailing my arms in the air.  Then literally within a foot of striking Ty the man riding shotgun on the jet ski reaches around the female driver and turns the steering wheel sharply, missing my youngest by inches!  (Later, Ty said all he saw as he turned around was the white bottom of the jet ski ‘near my face’!)  If it had been any other type of watercraft it wouldn’t have had responsive enough steering to avert disaster!

The next moments remain fuzzy to me.  The jet skiers stopped and apologetically waved from a safe distance.  But I was so hysterical that no one, least of all the would-be offenders, would come near me.  My reaction was visceral and left me in a contemplative funk for the rest of the day.

How fragile life is!  And so, living thankfully and purposefully is a good thing.  As Americans we are in possession of one of life’s greatest blessings – the liberty brand – which relatively few people in human history have experienced.  May we acknowledge and faithfully accept our stewardship of “The Original American Brand” so we can bequeath the American Dream to our children in the tradition of our forefathers.