I almost drowned when I was a about three. We were at Flathead Lake and I guess I ran down to the end of a dock where my older brother and sister were sitting. Somehow I fell in the water and started thrashing around.  Instead of being scared though, I started yelling, “I’m swimming! I’m swimming!” I remember seeing the pebbles on the bottom of the lake because the water was so clear the sunlight made them shimmer. My dad dove into the water fully clothed to save me. After he pulled me out, my parents wrapped me up in a blanket and laid me down on the back seat of the station wagon. The sun shone behind my parents as they peered into the car at me and I heard my mom say worriedly, “Do you think she’ll be okay?” I was drowsy and warm from the blanket and dozed off to sleep. I was too young to be truly scared by the experience. But to this day I am scared of the water. I took swimming lessons when I was a kid and could actually swim across the pool and jump from the diving board (one of the most terrifying experiences of my life). Yet I am fearful of being in and around water. And I’ve missed out on some fun times – pool parties, swimming at the lake, going to water parks. I wish I could swim – would be so nice to just relax, or have a splashing fight, jump into the deep end, or boogie board at the ocean (I don’t think I have the balance to actually surf – I fall off skateboards). Would be wonderful to be fear-free and just enjoy the ride.

18 Mar This entry was published on March 18, 2013 at 4:42 am. It’s filed under Uncategorized and tagged cat, drown, kitty, ocean, paint, painting a day, splash, surf, swim, water. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.