yesterday afternoon, a guest staying at our condo swam out in very hazardous conditions to rescue two distressed swimmers.  he saved them and never came back.  the helicopters flew a search grid behind our house until late into the night and started again first thing this morning.  around 1100, i heard it stop making passes and start hovering in one place.  i didn’t want to look.  when i finally worked up my nerve to go out to the balcony, i saw that the helicopter was hovering just west of us.  maybe a couple hundred yards over and out.  a few minutes later, rescue trucks drove up and swimmers went into the water.  it took them several minutes to swim out past the waves and as i watched them struggling, i saw the body being washed in the surf a little closer our way.  i watched the brave rescue swimmers approach and apprehend the body.  i was crying as i watched them strap the body to the rescue buoy and start the strenuous swim back in.  i cried and i prayed and i prayed and i cried.  my heart is so heavy for this man’s family.  i cannot fathom.  and i hope that they were not out there watching.  i hope that they were not in the throng of people gathered on the beach as the rescue swimmers pulled him in.

and this just four days on the heals of my hubby’s rescue of two distressed swimmers while he was out surfing this past weekend.  i begged him to never do that.  to never just run out into the water without any kind of flotation device.  it is just heartbreaking when people underestimate the power of mother nature.  i have seen the gulf at its angriest and it demands respect.  i don’t ever want to be the one seeing my husband’s body pulled onto the beach because some idiot thought the rough water looked fun.