What was a May Day moment on an airplane that the passengers didn't even notice?

This was about seven years ago now.

I took my brother and two cousins up for a short sightseeing flight one morning in a Cessna 172.

I knew there was some weather coming in, so I wanted to get it over with quickly.

About 20 minutes in, I noticed the clouds getting worse, and then some lightning

off in the distance. Definitely time to head back. Heading back, I radioed my intentions,

uncontrolled airport, but with an FBO, and someone radioed back with the current winds. It didn't

compute what they said, and in retrospect, I should have asked for clarification. Got back to

the airport, and as I was on my final approach, I realized just how bad the wind is.

Having a hard time keeping on center line and eventually going around on the first try.

By then I was starting to sweat bullets and planned on rerouting if the next attempt didn't go well.

I make sure to turn the intercom off so my cousins in the back can't hear

how panicked I'm becoming, though I did keep my cool through the whole thing. On second attempt,

I've got the rudder pegged to the left and managed to get the wheels on the ground safely.

I taxi to the park, shut down, jump out and start shaking with adrenaline and let out a huge sigh of

relief. My cousins had no idea what had just

happened. It was just an exciting flight to them. My brother kind of knew what was going on,

and I let him know what I was thinking later. Apparently, I had an audience of guys from the

FBO watching me as well, probably yelling at me to go somewhere else. I'm honestly surprised

sometimes that I managed that landing with no incidents,

especially since that was basically my first crosswind landing. Uncoordinated turn and then all the

fuel went to one side of the plane, choked both engines, sputtered and cut out, 3,000 feet high,

...