Still in shock...

Last night my mom called me, I was busy with the kids, and then she called again pretty quickly. I thought I better call her back and see whats up. I called and the conversation goes as follows,"Dad was in a really bad boating accident, but he is okay."Hmmm...okay..."What do you mean he was in a bad boating accident?"I can hear my dad in the background yelling. My mom goes outside so I can hear her. Apparently my dad, my uncle, my uncles three brothers, one of his brothers sons, and my other uncles father (are you following me) were out on my Uncle Stuart's fishing boat and it capsized. Now if you have been to the Lake of the Woods these are not "typical" fishing boats. They are more like "mini-yachts", my Uncle Stuart's boat is only a couple of years old, can hold a good 15 people comfortably-it has a sleeping space and bathroom. Anyways, my mom eventually put my dad on the phone and the story goes as follows.

My dad explained that they were fishing and they suddenly realized that one side of the boat was leaning more than the other. He went down to check it out and saw the boat was filling with water. He called up to Gary (my uncle's dad) to call May Day over the scanner. Gary called and my dad started searching for life jackets because nobody was wearing one. He said in like a minute and a half the boat flipped and they were all in the water. Mind you with no life jackets. My dad begins sobbing at this point. He said he was in the cab getting the life jackets and then under water. He seriously thought he was going to drown. He was able to make it out and find Gary, once they realized what had happened and were accounting for everyone they realized they could not find my Uncle Fred's brother Alonzo.


The Lake of the Woods water is not a quiet lake, the waves swell like the ocean, and many people have died there.After calling his name they hear him respond. He was still under the boat but able to breath because of the pocket of air in the cabin since the boat was upside down. Unfortunately there was no way for him to swim out because he was tangled up and unable to move. When Gary called May Day two boats that were near their boat heard the call over the scanner and came to find them. Once they reached them they pulled everybody on board and called to land for a rescue team. Poor Alonzo was in the water for over two hours underneath the boat until the rescue divers were able to untangle him. They had to bring him to the hospital to warm him up.

I think I am still reeling in shock. My dad said it was seriously a miracle that with a boat that size capsizing with seven people without life jackets that they all survived. He said to me repeatedly that we would not be out on the boat without life jackets again. Not that he would never fish again, but he would make damn sure he had a life jacket on. Here is the article on it and I guess it was on the news last night, I didn't see it.

So thank you my angels for watching over my family, I know who you all are, and I love you. But I know you love them all just as much as me.