Near Death Experience

When I was 6 years old I almost drowned.

I was at a local, outdoor community swimming pool with my mother on a sunny afternoon in St Albert, Alberta. I was in the shallow end of the pool and my mom was laying on her towel nearby beside the pool. Next to the edge, standing and chatting, were a group of young life guards enjoying the sunshine and joking around. I was told to stay in the shallow end but I also thought that there would be no harm in holding on to the side of the pool ledge and venturing a bit deeper... maybe just by a foot or two. I was pretty good at treading water, and it wasn't technically the 'deep end' so I felt pretty confident.

The pool was brimming with little, wet bodies, laughing and jumping into the pool from the sidelines. I was holding on to the edge, practicing my treading water here and there, when the waves from the kids cannon balling in beside me seemed to be getting quite intense. I turned and saw that I was now a foot away from the edge and the waves seemed to be coming non stop. This all happened within seconds. Then it started to get worse. One wave would go over my head, mouth full of water... I recall looking up at the lifeguards, silently begging for help with my eyes, while they stood feet away talking and joking. Again, my head went under and panic came over me. The water was taking me completely under.
I don't think I'm going to make it.

Then, all of a sudden, I remember this dark shadow flying over me, in slow motion... followed immediately by the biggest wave that completely and ferociously twisted my body and sent me spiralling down even deeper. Along with that huge and seemingly last fatal wave, came arms and hands that lifted my body completely out of the water, and held me up on high. My mother had come to my rescue.

She recalls the scene as having happened within seconds. She was nearby watching me in the shallow end, she laid down, kept checking on me visually. The next time she looked she couldn't see me. She got up immediately to then witness me going under the water and struggling for air. I was only one or two feet from the edge, she ran and took a flying leap over my body landing next to me in the water... causing that large, cannon ball wave that seemed so deadly to me at the time. The water was only 5 feet deep and she was able to stand on the floor of the pool when she lifted me up. She was absolutely furious with the life guards standing mere feet from me and we left immediately after she tore a strip out of them.

I was only 6 years old, but I knew then what had almost happened. I knew that my mother had saved my life. I remember that day vividly and I believe that it marked for me, in my little life at the time, the personal knowledge and understanding that my mother was truly my greatest Protector.

Cheers,
Bootsie :)

p.s.
Thank You Annie, I love you  xoxo