There Are No Dragons on Cloud 9

There Are No Dragons On Cloud 9 is the true, life-affirming story of a man who faced every adversity life could possibly throw in his path, of how he overcame those adversities and went on to lead a wonderful life, which included a remarkable 33-year career with the Florida Highway Patrol. It is the story of courage, hope, perseverance, and, most of all, love---the love of a mother who refused to relinquish her son and the love of a woman who made him realize that, sometimes when something devastating happens and you think your life is over, it is, in fact, just beginning.

At twenty-two, Bill Bobbitt considered himself a very fortunate man. He was healthy, happily married, and filled with all the confidence, cockiness, and spirit of adventure common to that age, when you stand on the threshold of what you're sure will be a great and glorious life and every day is just a prelude to all the wonderful things yet to come: Life is exciting simply because it still holds so much promise.

On a beautiful September morning in 1951, Bill Bobbitt believed in that promise when he decided to go air boating through the Florida Everglades with his two best friends. He believed in that promise as they sat by the water's edge reminiscing about growing up together. He believed in that promise as the boat skimmed across the water at 60 miles an hour and the mid-morning sunshine danced across the rippling water. He believed in that promise until the very instant the boat suddenly struck something unseen beneath the surface of the dark shallow water and he was thrown into the blades of the open, spinning propeller.

In that instant, Bill Bobbitt left behind the secure life he had always known, the future he had always envisioned, and embarked on an extraordinary journey. It was a long journey, and he encountered many obstacles and perils along the way: death and despair, fear and doubt, the knowledge that he might never walk again, addiction to morphine, the breakup of his marriage, and the overwhelming task of rebuilding his shattered life. But, by calling upon all those inexplicable innate human qualities that enable us to go on when we're sure we cannot, to keep trying when we want to give up, to keep hoping even when we're certain that all hope is lost, Bill Bobbitt stayed the course until the journey led him, ultimately, to a place of peace and serenity where, through the power of love, he learned to believe in that promise once again.

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