Sometimes You Gotta Have Help
Back in October of 2022, I decided I would fish the canal along University Drive from North Perry Airport to Stirling in Pembroke Pines, Florida. There’s A LOT of fish in the canal including large mouth bass, peacock bass, carp, catfish, oscars, Mayan cichlids, snook, and tarpon. South Florida fishing at it’s finest. This is the type of fishing I loved as a kid and a young man before my accident. I walked the rivers beds and lake shores casting my line for anything that would bite. These days, I mostly target peacock bass.
So there I was ...
I was fishing a section between Pines Blvd and Johnson Street. I was almost done for the evening after having caught several three pound peacocks and lots of little one pounders. Making my way around the edge of the canal can be tricky. I’m wheeling through sand covered in grass with a good six foot drop to the water’s edge. I was rolling to a new spot when my left rear wheel dropped into an iguana hole. I flipped over backward and rolled into the water. My chair was upside down and the more I struggled to climb up the embankment, the more I slid into the water. I ended up on my knees in the water and pulled out my phone. I needed help to get out.
Help! I've fallen and I can't get up.
I called 911. I patiently explained to the dispatcher that I was a paraplegic and myself and my wheelchair were now swimming in the canal and I needed help. She sent the police and the firefighters. It must have been a good show for anyone watching. Six police cars, three fire trucks, and an ambulance showed up to rescue me.
The firefighters made quick work of getting me out of the canal, putting me back in the chair, and then escorted me back to the sidewalk.
The moral of the story.
We all need help. None of us live in a vacuum. Especially those of us who write for a living. We have editors and proofreaders and betas and all of you who read our books. There are times when we are isolated and don’t leave the house as we type furiously at our keyboards to polish the next story.
The books we write require social proof. Those are the reviews that you all write, so be kind to your favorite author and leave us a review. It helps with the sales and to let others in the world know that the books we write are loved by others.
Back in the day the slogan was “Be kind, rewind” now, it’s “Be kind and leave a review.”
Thanks to everyone who reads my books. And to the first responders for saving my dumb ass!
