Water Hazard...
We spent all day at the beach today. We have friends visiting from the States who have a daughter the same age as our four year old.
Rebecca had such fun jumping off the dock (water is 30 feet deep) with her little lifejacket on and dog-paddling back to the ladder. The visiting girl has not been around the lake that long. I encouraged her to jump in (with lifejacket) and try it, she was nervous so I got in ahead of her so she could swim to me. Little did I realize the shock of the cold water and her nervousness would result in her trying to climb up to safety on top of my head. Eventually she calmed down and her attempted at drowning me, lessened. All in all, an exhilarating learning curve for both of us!
A little later she wanted to swim with her mom. Things were going well, the mom was using a floatation device to keep her daughter from drowning her as well. I watched from the beach-just in case.
As I watched my daughter play in the sand, I noticed the flotation device got away from the mom so she started to swim after it, with her kid still in her arms. I watched as she kept swimming farther and farther away from the dock just arms length away from the flutter board, not realizing how far she was getting from the dock. I saw her look back, hesitate and decide to head back to dock but she was tiring and going very slowly. Her daughter was wearing a life jacket but she wasn't.
Suddenly, as if I wasn't in control of my own body. I jumped up and yelled at Rebecca to stay on the sand. I ran down the dock at full speed, ran to the end of the boat launch and dove off with speed I didn't know I had in me. I swam so fast for the flotation device, I reached it in a matter of seconds and swam over to the mom and little girl. I gave the mom the handle of the flotation device and swam them both back to the dock. I was amazed at how effortless I could swim against the waves which were very high and frightening the little girl who swallowing water as I towed them. There was so much adrenaline in my body I had three times my normal strength in the water. My heart was beating so fast I could feel it in my chest, and hear it between my ears. I pulled them up to the ladder and got out.
The mother was embarassed but thankful, she hadn't realized how tired she was or how far from land. My reaction surprised me. I snapped at her! I said, "never go after a toy with your kid in your arms!".
I realize I was full of adrenaline but one of my basic tenets in life is to never hurt anyone. I would never want to offend anyone, or hurt their feelings. I love people, and I knew she didn't have much experience around water. But something about the reality of the danger of the water and the thought of what might have happened overwhelmed me. I was terrified!
I love being at the lake but something about this situation just set something off in me. I'm still reeling. My head is rationalizing...if I had done nothing, probably nothing would have happened. They would have let the toy go and just swam slowly back to the dock. What is the big deal? But there is something else my heart (and my body) responded to that tells me something more was happening.
Only one other time have I experienced my body going ahead of the rest of me. Once my foot hit the brake on the highway about a full 4 seconds before my eyes focused on a deer in the middle of the road. I knew it was angels pressing on my foot. The three passengers in the back were asleep and not wearing seatbelts.
This situation feels like that, even though my mind is telling me it was nothing....such a strange feeling.....
We spent all day at the beach today. We have friends visiting from the States who have a daughter the same age as our four year old.
Rebecca had such fun jumping off the dock (water is 30 feet deep) with her little lifejacket on and dog-paddling back to the ladder. The visiting girl has not been around the lake that long. I encouraged her to jump in (with lifejacket) and try it, she was nervous so I got in ahead of her so she could swim to me. Little did I realize the shock of the cold water and her nervousness would result in her trying to climb up to safety on top of my head. Eventually she calmed down and her attempted at drowning me, lessened. All in all, an exhilarating learning curve for both of us!
A little later she wanted to swim with her mom. Things were going well, the mom was using a floatation device to keep her daughter from drowning her as well. I watched from the beach-just in case.
As I watched my daughter play in the sand, I noticed the flotation device got away from the mom so she started to swim after it, with her kid still in her arms. I watched as she kept swimming farther and farther away from the dock just arms length away from the flutter board, not realizing how far she was getting from the dock. I saw her look back, hesitate and decide to head back to dock but she was tiring and going very slowly. Her daughter was wearing a life jacket but she wasn't.
Suddenly, as if I wasn't in control of my own body. I jumped up and yelled at Rebecca to stay on the sand. I ran down the dock at full speed, ran to the end of the boat launch and dove off with speed I didn't know I had in me. I swam so fast for the flotation device, I reached it in a matter of seconds and swam over to the mom and little girl. I gave the mom the handle of the flotation device and swam them both back to the dock. I was amazed at how effortless I could swim against the waves which were very high and frightening the little girl who swallowing water as I towed them. There was so much adrenaline in my body I had three times my normal strength in the water. My heart was beating so fast I could feel it in my chest, and hear it between my ears. I pulled them up to the ladder and got out.
The mother was embarassed but thankful, she hadn't realized how tired she was or how far from land. My reaction surprised me. I snapped at her! I said, "never go after a toy with your kid in your arms!".
I realize I was full of adrenaline but one of my basic tenets in life is to never hurt anyone. I would never want to offend anyone, or hurt their feelings. I love people, and I knew she didn't have much experience around water. But something about the reality of the danger of the water and the thought of what might have happened overwhelmed me. I was terrified!
I love being at the lake but something about this situation just set something off in me. I'm still reeling. My head is rationalizing...if I had done nothing, probably nothing would have happened. They would have let the toy go and just swam slowly back to the dock. What is the big deal? But there is something else my heart (and my body) responded to that tells me something more was happening.
Only one other time have I experienced my body going ahead of the rest of me. Once my foot hit the brake on the highway about a full 4 seconds before my eyes focused on a deer in the middle of the road. I knew it was angels pressing on my foot. The three passengers in the back were asleep and not wearing seatbelts.
This situation feels like that, even though my mind is telling me it was nothing....such a strange feeling.....
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