I thank the Lord because my family and I had a fine vacation this summer despite a phone call I received one day while soaking up the rays and the view on a California beach.

It was my brother who called to tell me that a water line burst in my house, flooding the living and dining rooms.

Determined not let that interfere with our plans, my first call was to my buddy who has extensive knowledge in these things. It was a bit embarrassing to have him fix the leak because Jesse had warned me to shut off the water valve outside my home before leaving. His advice fell on deaf ears.

I called the insurance company from right there on the beach and they immediately dispatched a team to dry out the floor and assess the damage.

There was nothing I could do from 800 miles away, so I turned my attention back to the business at hand; relaxing.

Next I received an urgent e-mail from the clerk who handles the classified advertisement for the NI. Her computer, which has a very specific and expensive software program, melted down and she could not work.

This I quickly put into the hands of our trusty tech-savvy graphic designer, who, as usual, took ownership of the problem and soon had it resolved. (Thank you, David.)

Me? I was perfecting my boogie-boarding skills; all my cares washing out to sea.

Then on July 6, after eating dinner at a Joe’s Crab Shack in Redondo Beach, my 16-year-old son received a call on his cell phone. It was one of his friends calling to let him know that their schoolmate, Sofia Palma, was dead. She was shot in the head while a friend was playing around with a handgun that went off.

It was a defining moment for all of us sitting quietly in our van outside the restaurant after the call. We realized that because of a careless act, Perla’s own family would never be able to feel complete whether on vacation or around the dinner table. Our family calls this the “circle of love;” their’s forever broken.

We headed home the next day.

(Write us at 268 W. View Point Dr., Nogales, Ariz., 85621 or manuel.coppola@nogalesinternational.com.)