It was supposed to only be a two hour flight from Oahu to the Big Island of Hawaii for two young pilots in their mid-twenties. Dave McMahon and Sydnie Uemoto had never met but were paired to fly this twin engine plane with no passengers. Unexpectedly, they suddenly lost power in both engines, went through their check list in an effort to restart them, and were forced to make a water landing in the ocean.
Miraculously, they survived the crash landing but then were left in the ocean with one working life preserver. Sydnie, with a broken nose but managed to follow Dave out of the plane as it quickly filled with water. The short version of the story is that they survived. The struggled through the night with exhaustion, jelly fish stings, and a hovering shark but were finally rescued the next day, after more than 20 hours in the water.
Two sentences jumped out to me about this story. First, was the statement, “To be alone in the ocean was awful and terrifying. But to be with someone else – to feel another person’s comforting presence in the darkness – somehow made the ordeal bearable.” The second one was after their rescue, “Alone, either of them would have died. But together, they had made it. When one had been weak, the other had been strong.”
This story is a picture of marriage. As together we face the battles of raising kids, careers, parent and in-law challenges, and so much more – if we are married, we were never meant to face this journey alone. We were meant to have the presence of our partner. We were meant to make “the ordeal bearable.”
Today’s tip is simply this – rather than wait until you are in the waters surrounded by the sharks of life – reach out today to your spouse. Be present. Be strong when they are weak. Because, together you can make it!