Thursday, December 19, 2013

Think Out Loud [36] Breathing under water is sometimes easier than all of this.

I almost drowned once. It was summer. Floods hit the Midwest like never before. I was stupid. You know the formula. So the kids asked me to go tubing. I said, "Sure, what's tubing?" Already I should have been locked in my room and not let out until I had some common sense. We parked next to a bridge partially submerged by the usually harmless creek beneath. We all had our inner tubes. I watched the other kids jump with huge triumphant grins. I didn't like the look of the water. Too many whirls. Whirls were bad in the ocean, but this was a creek. I took position on a spot not submerged. I swallowed a big gulp of air and jumped. 

I landed with an ungraceful plop, flipped, lost the inner tube, and got sucked into an underwater mountain of debris crammed under the bridge. Pockets of water pulled at my body to draw me further into the tangle of broken branches and muck. I loved water back then. I was a total fish. Could hold my breath for ages. Almost nothing in the water freaked me out. Eels, of course. Big scary assholes that held me under freaked me out too. That's about it. But this? No problem. I even smiled. 

I felt the tug, tug, tug all over. I told myself I had about a minute to fight my way out and up. I imagined breathing water like the movie Abyss. That would be so cool! I pulled and heaved forward. Echos of my name bounced around me. I didn't want anyone to come after me. I loved it, but I couldn't see anyone else feeling the same way. I made it to the surface. Sucked in air while a barrage of kids just as dumb as me yelled and scolded me for freaking them out. I decided right then that tubing sucked balls. 

Why is it almost drowning is so much easier than the land of air and solid ground. I flail out of the water with no clue which direction to take. It was a simpler thing when I had a minute to find the sky again.

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10 comments:

  1. Wow Robyn, that sounded so scary. It reminded me of the time I almost drowned.
    It was at a water park and I went with my family and cousins. My sister, cousins and I went onto the tallest water slid and I thought I was cool to be big enough to go on it. I was a great swimmer. Always the first one to dive into the deepend of the pool out of my classmates at school.
    But here, I thought it was no problem. My eldest cousin went ahead if me as I went last in line. As I watched my cousin plopped out the other end I jumped in. Down I went and plopped out the other end to drop right unto the deepend of the water. I panicked. I was not ready and I was taken off guard. I struggled as I tried to reach the surface. Out of nowhere a hand grabbed me and pulled me up by the hand. My cousin. I wiped the water off my face and swam to the edge. Nothing looked wrong, the life guards looked fine, no panic, no worries, nothing. It felt like a life time but was only a couple of seconds. My cousin said nothing.
    I shook it off and walked back to our seats and said I'm done for the day as my cousins went off to enjoy the rest of the water slides.

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    1. Oh my gosh, that is scary. And the lifeguards had no idea anything was wrong! Thank goodness for your cousin reaching in and pulling you up. I would have been done for the day too! I haven't been to a water park in the longest time! Have you seen The Way Way Back? Took me back to those days going down the water slides all day.

      No snow yet...still on the look out!

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  2. You made me chill.
    This is an amazing story, Robyn, given that everything was fine at the end. I guess growing up, we realize how different we used to see some things. But those immature and dangerous moments, stay with us and become beautiful memories.

    Have a great weekend!

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    1. Oh, the memories, right? I know for sure I would not jump off any bridge nowadays, but I'm also not sure if I could be so calm in the same dire situation, not with the boys on my mind. I was always calm in an emergency when it was just me. Perspective is everything, isn't it?

      I hope you're enjoying your stay with your family. Turkey is high on your holiday list? I'm all about the pecan pie with vanilla ice cream.

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  3. That's one scary story, Robyn. I have never been in such situation before, but I remember staring with horror when a friend of mine nearly drowned in a pool. I couldn't even swim then, but just as I made a move to go rescue him someone pushed him out of the water.

    That experience gives me chills till this day. I'm glad your survived, and thanks for sharing your story.

    Have a great weekend!

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    1. Oh goodness, Kaykay! Watching someone nearly drown is much worse than being the one in the water. That sounds terrible! It's so nice to have you stop by my blog! I hope you're enjoying your break. Did you line up all the books you've been dying to read, close your eyes, and randomly pick the next read?

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  4. Oh, kids really do the most dangerous things, eh? I'm glad it turned out OK both for you and your friends that day at the creek. I remember feeling both fearless and immortal when I was younger. I think it's both the beauty and the curse of not knowing better! Beauty because it helps us take risks that we might never have taken otherwise. And some of those risks are really important for our development. Curse, because, unfortunately, it doesn't always end good for all of us :(

    Have a fantastic Friday, my friend. And I wish you and the boys, your mom and sister, a very Merry Christmas if I don't talk to you before then.

    Hugs! Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

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    1. You are so right about the beauty and curse and the sense of invincibility of it all. I almost never felt fear when I should have. Nothing bad could happen sort of thinking. Sheesh! And really I got dumber as I worked my way to and through college. Amazing I survived!

      I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas too, Lexxie!

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  5. I'm so very glad you survived that, my friend! I know kids - well, even young adults - have that feeling of invincibility and do incredibly stupid things. I once grabbed hold of an electric wire - meant to keep kids out of a farmer's field. Luckily it was set to pulse and the voltage was low but damn! That hurt!

    As for life as an adult - it is much harder to navigate. Maybe we should try to live by that adage - something like 'what would we do if we knew we wouldn't fail?' Of course, we'd need to apply our adult 'wisdom' to our decisions...no jumping off bridges during a flash flood! :)

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    1. You made me laugh. No jumping off bridges during flash floods. Got it. Check. I gasped at your story about grabbing the power line! Oh my goodness, Brandee. Because of the yearly typhoons on Guam power lines were always down. That was the one thing my mom could trust me around. Everything else was potential for a hospital trip. You just picked it up! You have to put that in your book, somewhere.

      You're right about adult life being much harder to navigate. I'm thinking of incorporating Ally McBeal type theme songs. Maybe a new one every month. I'll do a monthly theme song post to keep the adage alive. Yeah!

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