If I could borrow just a few minutes out of your busy schedules, I
would like to share a true story of my life. I will try to keep as short
as possible, so please forgive me.

When I was ten years old, my father took me to a small place in Florida
for a week of fishing. I will never forget the fun that we had on the
only "men's only" vacation I ever took with him. I can still recall the
first night at "The Bass Galore Inn, Fishermen's Paradise". I went
running out to the swimming pool to jump in, only to find an alligator
in the pool. It scared me so bad I could hardly go to sleep that night.
My dad and I had fun all week long catching fish and just doing what
men do. Eating fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Seventeen years later, when my father was diagnosed with cancer, I asked
him where that was that we had gone to. I had high hopes of taking him
back there for another week of fun. That was unfortunately never able to
happen, as he worsened and was never able to make the trip. After his
death I found my peace and solitude in the sport of skydiving. Since
then, I have often looked back and wished I could have shared the beauty
of the sport with him. But I believe that all things eventually come
full circle. Three months ago I met a man from Florida on the internet.
He was from this same small town in Florida, and I immediately started
asking questions about "The Bass Galore Inn".

Since our meeting, we have become great friends via the internet. Sharing
stories of life, the places we have been as well as the lessons we have learned.
I find that he and I have a lot in common with our philosophies and our beliefs. John
is retired from teaching and has a son that is twelve years old. John
went over to the river where "The Bass Galore Inn" used to be located
and took some pictures which he sent to me. It is the very same spot
where I stood so many years ago fishing with my dad! I could not believe
it. It looked exactly as I had remembered it.

John just celebrated his 55th birthday last week and has been to the doctor for some discomforts.
The doctor believes that it may be cancer, so they are scheduling a
biopsy in a few weeks. He is trying to deal with this the best as he
can, but some things are not easy to handle on your own. Knowing that
his young son's best friend had just moved to another state and they
were now writing emails back and forth, I offered to become an email pal
for his son.I thought it would be fun to do. He gladly accepted and his
son Skyler was so eager to have a pal. Skyler also has ADHD which I had as a
boy, so I relate well to what he is going through. When he found out
that I was a skydiver, his exact words were "kewl". In just one week Skyler
has emailed me countless times asking question after question, never
content with just an answer, he wants to know more. "Have you ever been
hit by a bird", "do you wear two parachutes", "have you ever jumped a
board" and on and and on.

I have emailed him a few pictures and given him a friend's website to go visit that
had some pictures that I had taken. John told me of Skyler's email to his uncle, all he talked about was his new friend that is a skydiver. "One day, he is going to take me and
daddy on a skydive". Now he is asking all of the technical questions
about how he and his dad will jump. He is so excited about skydiving, he
took the pictures to school and showed all of his friends. He told them
that he has a new friend that is a jumper. It is such a great feeling to
know that in the world as it is today, a person can find friendship in a
total stranger. And I have found two at the same time.

Even though this boy is aware of his fathers illness, he has something that makes his
day. A reason to run around happy without letting life get him down. He
is already talking about wanting to go into the Air Force when he grows
up. He wants to read books on skydiving and has drawn a picture of a sky
surfer saying "Hasta la vista dude, this is cool. You should try it" and
sent to me yesterday. Last night, he asked me before he went to bed,
"what is your favorite jump". I told him that sunset jumps are always
the best because they are so beautiful.

This morning I was wanting to send him another picture, so I went to
Visual Expressions by Keith Larrett. I was delighted to see the addition of electronic
postcards. I knew the first card was perfect the minute I saw it. I immediately
emailed it to him telling him that a friend of mine took this picture in
the sky over Florida. He was thrilled when he saw it. His father told me
that he immediately printed it out and went outside to look up at the
sky. He ran into his bedroom and taped it to his wall, then asked his
father to print out another copy so he could show the guys at school tomorrow.

The sport of skydiving has touched this young boy. No longer
happy just tying rockets to his toy cars, or pulling a truck by a string
while on his bike, he is constantly wanting to know more about what we
do. He dreams of some day jumping, but for now he is content just
looking up at the sky and pretending he can see someone in freefall. His
father has shared with me how excited Skyler is and how he talks about it
all the time. I have made a promise to myself not to let John or Skyler
down. Both of their lives have been enlightened in a time of need,
simply by a boy's eagerness to have a friend as well as my own needs to
be a friend. I feel that I may get more out of this than either of them,
but the sport now has two huge fans. I just hope we don't let them down.
Someday soon, I hope to meet both of them.

Julia, I wish to thank you for all you have done for me. You were the
inspiration to me to quantify the positive and ignore the negative. My
world is now a better place for me to live in, thanks to you.

Keith, You have one huge fan. You have made a boy sleep very well
tonight, with dreams of skydives and sunsets. Keep up the good work.