Loss Of A Coworker

by chris cunningham

We lost a coworker recently. He was in Hawaii on vacation [LINK]. It’s incredibly sad what happened to him. I had only met him last week as he was fairly new. He was very fond of Hawaii and always wore a hawaiian print shirt. You know those kinda guys. They always seem to be really nice. In honor of him everybody wore hawaiian shirts on Friday and got together for a picture out front. Kinda nice. Stories like this upset me even if I don’t know the person. Much more than a car wreck or some other accident. I was rescued by a lifeguard once as I was getting pulled under by a rip current. I had been out swimming and was ready to come in when a rip current hit me and started dragging me under. The most terrifying thing you can imagine and I was already exhausted from swimming. I was able to signal but I was already swallowing water when he got to me. Had he been any later, who knows. I’ve grown up around the ocean my whole life but since then I’ve carried a healthy respect of the ocean and will never swim in it without fins. It’s just too unpredictable. Your comfort zone in the water isn’t necessarily a safe one. You think salt water tastes bad? Try it in your lungs.