#328 - S the Lifeguard

I cannot remember a time that I did not know how to swim.  I can't really understand how some people are afraid of the water.  I feel very comfortable in water and I always have.  This past weekend, I got to take an awesome trip where I got to ride on a boat, take a kayak trip, ride aqua-bikes, and learn to paddle board.  Fun...Fun...Fun on the water.  Someone in the group that I did not know made the comment that she was scared of falling in.  Why?  I just don't get it.

Anyway, on to this post.  She is the gal who was my boss for two summers when  I was a lifeguard at our local country club.  She did not teach me how to be a lifeguard.  I took the classes at the local aqua place and passed my certification test.  I remember having to jump in with all my clothes on, and then take them off, tie the ends together, and blow into them to make a float...all without my feet touching the bottom of the pool.  I am not afraid of the water, but  I do hope that I never have to rely on my jeans to keep me above sea level.  I remember treading water for 5 minutes.  I remember learning how to do a chin tow to drag drowning victims (or my other lifeguard classmates) to safety. 

All of this was fine and dandy, but no one really prepared me for the reality of being a lifeguard.  I will state for the record that it just might me the most boring job on earth.  But...that is what you want.  Kind of a mixed bag of emotions.  An exciting day for a lifeguard is really not too good for some poor swimmer.  Anyway, S the lifeguard taught me how to sit in the broiling hot sun (while working on my pre-sunscreen tan) for 15 minute increments without fidgeting.  She taught me how to scan my eyes from right to left and up and down.  She taught me how to keep moving so I did not fall asleep and miss something.  And last but not least, she taught me how to blow my whistle and yell, "Walk!"

Ahhh, the good old days.  Thank goodness I never had to save anyone.  Did not even come close in two summers.  I did not have to throw my life ring in.  I did not have to jump in.  I did not even have to break up a game of water chicken.  But...I did learn to be alert and watch and be patient.  A skill that has come in handy twenty years later when I have a pool of my own and often up to 20 little ones swimming.  Each time I inhale to yell, "Don't run!"  I think of #328.

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