About five years ago my son was hiking and camping with family friends in the Cuyamaca mountains near San Diego when he was involved in a tragic accident. The man he was hiking with, his friends step-father was struck by lightning, killing him instantly. My son was knocked off his feet, unconcious for between 10/20 seconds but un-harmed. It was an emotional experience for him to put it mildly — but he has suffered no ill effects physically from the incident. And emotionally he has dealt with it better than most people have, maybe because he doesn’t dwell on the past, he moves forward and has an optimistic view living each moment.

Just yesterday in our small town in Colorado there was a similar event that hit us both pretty hard emotionally because it brought back memories for us since it was similar. A 17-year-old high young man, the age of my son now, was practicing soccer about 2 miles from our home, was struck by lightning and killed. I remember this lightning strike because our electricity flashed on/off and our Internet and digital cable was blown out. I know those things are not important, but are significant since it happened at the exact time this young man was hit.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the young man and although I don’t know them I understand their pain.

Words of wisdom to remember — it is good to have a goal to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end.

Remember to live each day to the fullest, none of us are promised tomorrow. And I remember asking my 12-year-old son how he was feeling after his experience; I asked him what he thought about it all. In his wisdom he said, “mom I guess it was just his time.” I said, “yes, I guess it was his time.” Looking right around that time the pastor at church preached about no one knows the hour or day — just to be ready when it happens, when it is your time.

Something we should all remember and live by — none of us know the time or place, but one thing we know for sure, we all have a time.