Welcome to Day Zero, my friends.
As we approach the midnight hour here in the Northeast, I want to thank all of you again for giving up your time for me in recent weeks.
It has truly been my privilege to have your company.
And speaking of privileges and honors, I would like to dedicate the completion of our solstice journey to a very dear friend of mine.
Actually, please allow me to further characterize him; the man is my hero.
If we can agree that by definition a hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage or noble qualities, then none of us need to look beyond this post.
Yeah, that’s our man right there – the guy in the Hawaiian shirt – some years ago with his pretty wife, Jayne.
We talk of heroes often, don’t we? Sometimes we even fawn over our heroes, those we aspire
to be like – those we think deserve our respect and admiration.
When it comes to that, no one I know – no one I have ever known – embodies those qualities more.
I include the additional picture of yours truly in this dedication for only one reason: Directly behind me, you can see a shoal, a long sandbank that leads all the way out to that lighthouse off in the distance.
I didn’t believe it at first, but when the tide is right, you can walk all the way out to the lighthouse, more than a
mile offshore.
I promise you that’s true. And in fact, I have made the journey many times over the years – every year for nearly three decades. I would walk and often run out to that lighthouse for my friend, my friend who could no longer do either of those things.
You can read the small caption beneath the photograph, identifying that solid mass of sand – that reef that will always remind me of my friend and hero.
So here’s to Caputo Way and to Steven John Caputo, the bravest lighthouse keeper the world has ever known.
We love you, brother.
And we will see you again.