When my wife and I moved to San Diego in 1995, my son was a little over 18 months old, and my daughter was about 4 months old. I had just taken a job for Thermoscan as a Software Engineer. Thermoscan was a pioneer in infrared ear thermometers. It was founded by Jacob Fraden, a Russian inventor, and a really interesting guy. He is also very kind and funny, and has written a number of good books. He is also a painter. Within 2 years or so, Thermoscan merged with Braun, and in 1998, I left to work for Welch Allyn.
When my son was at the right age for Kindergarten, my wife and I enrolled him at Our Lady of Grace Catholic School in El Cajon CA. Then in first grade, my son was one of 5 Ryans. (We had no idea when we chose the name “Ryan” for our son that “Ryan” was such a popular name !)
For my son’s birthday we invited Ryan’s entire 1st grade class to our house for a sleepover. (We were either incredibly brave parents, or incredibly stupid…) The good news is that nobody died or sustained any injuries, and a good time was had by all.
My son became best friends with one of the other Ryans (Ryan Johnson). We became good friends with the Johnson family, and we started hanging out with them on a regular basis for various sporting events, holidays, camping trips, etc.
Fast forward to February several years ago when both our Ryans were in college. We had made reservations with the Johnsons and another family to go camping at a place called the “Strand”. It’s on the beach in San Diego. Unfortunately the weather forecast indicated it was going to be a huge winter rain storm. The Johnsons had an RV, the other family had a trailer, and we also had a trailer. No one else wanted to go to the Strand in a rain storm. But I had been working long hours at my job and wanted a break so I took the trailer and toughed it out.
It was quite a rain storm. But I think rain and storms are cool (I like watching the Weather Channel), and our trailer didn’t leak. The next morning I took this amazing photo of the sunrise. I love this photo so much that I chose it for my site.
The following Tuesday, Ryan Johnson’s dad (Ken) was killed in an accident at his work. Ken was only a few weeks away from retirement from his job as a UPS driver. We had gone to dinner with Ken and Ken’s wife Kim at the end of the previous week.
It was such a shock to all of us, and Kim and Ryan were completely devastated. Ryan and his dad were very close. We all pulled together to support Kim and Ryan in every way possible. We should give thanks to God for every day of our lives, and don’t wait until tomorrow to do what we should do today. “…you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:13)