Goodbye to Terry

Life is fragile. This is why we decided to quit working and try to enjoy it, even if we went broke doing it. No one knows when the show will end. Once I took a 10 foot fall off the deck of our boat onto payment while it was in dry dock. The only thought that flashed through my head was I can't be paralyzed because I haven't done anything yet. All the work and preparation to enjoy sailing seemed to flush through my brain as a painful tragedy.

Fortunately I can walk. Fortunately Sherrell survived cancer. Fortunately we try to remind ourselves how fleeting life is.

Sometimes the reminders come in other forms. We met Terry Bingham and Tammy Woodmansee both sailors on a boat Secret-o-Life in the middle of a dusty field of Mexico. They were working on their boat trying to get it back in the water. Since then we bumped into them several times and they tried to catch up to us while we were touring Peru. In retrospect we are sad we never could seem to be in the same place at the same time.

While they were traveling Terry had stomach pains, which led to hospitalization in La Paz, Boliva. They then found he had a bad case of pancreatitis and a blood infection. He fought hard and was improving, but a sudden cardiac attack took him from us -- a shock to everyone.

Terry will be missed by all and our hearts go out to Tammy. http://terrybingham.blogspot.com/

My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
--Emily Dickinson