While this site is largely influenced by photography, I in no way consider myself anything close to a professional photographer. It’s more likely this site exists because I have a physical disability. And now that you may be curious….

July 4, 1985 was a great day…our annual family picnic. It was always a fun day full of food, family, swimming and waterskiing. But this year had been extra special: I had just learned how to ski barefoot a few weeks before and the plan for this day was for me and my oldest bother, Randy, to ski “barefoot doubles”. That’s right – barefoot – no skis! Two brothers being pulled behind one bout on just our bare feet, skimming across the water and close to 40 miles per hour. We did it. A day I’ll cherish forever. A day I will never forget!

The following day – July 5, 1985 – another day I will never forget. I woke up sore after a long day of skiing and swimming, but I was on top of the world. I woke up, got out of bed and went and dove into the lake. Wow – what a way to wake up….what a life! After helping my dad with some things in the morning, I got together with a couple friends to do a little skiing. Dad would drive the boat for us. Just another normal summer day on the lake…or so I thought.

I forget how much skiing we actually did that day, but at one point when I was skiing, we were coming up to my parents’ lakeside property. My run was almost over;  as was the usual routine, I would just let go of the tow rope and coast into the water. This time though, instead of just slowly drifting into the water I decided to dive off my ski into the water head first. It’s something I did from time-to-time….just something different to do….nothing to worry about. Well, nothing to worry about unless the water is too shallow.

As I am writing this, I’m re-living the moment in super-slow-motion. As I dove, my head smacked the top of the water and a split second later I heard a sound like I had never heard before. My head had hit the bottom of the rocky lake which was less than 3 feet below the surface. At that point, I may not have been completely sure what had happened but I knew one thing right away: I was paralyzed.

My memory of it is vivid. I was fully conscious and staring at the bottom of the lake just a couple feet in front of me. As I watched my arms moving helplessly in front of my body as I bobbed in the waves, I remember having this thought: “Lord, I’m too young to die. I’m too young to die!”

To be continued…..