Another near-drowning victim checking in. Maybe we should form a support group. Or a bouyancy group.
It was at the lake. I was 8 or 9 and chasing after some kids in a raft. I wanted to hang on and pull myself in. I can still remember being on tip-toe, reaching, reaching, reaching for the rope.
And then I was over my head.
I didn’t know how to swim.
Next thing I remember, I was on the beach. My brother had been keeping an eye on me. I don’t know how long I was out, but I don’t remember any pain or fear. I was probably caught by surprise going under and didn’t have a chance to think about it.
My mom signed me up for swim lessons at the Y shortly thereafter.
CLARENCE: Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
What ugly sights of death within mine eyes!
Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw’d upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scatter’d in the bottom of the sea:
Some lay in dead men’s skulls; and, in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,
As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems,
Which woo’d the slimy bottom of the deep,
And mock’d the dead bones that lay scatter’d by.
Richard III, I, iv
Did your brother tell you what had happened? Were you unconscious when he pulled you out? If so, why wasn’t there a bigger commotion about it, like someone trying to give you mouth-to-mouth?
I have absolutely no memory between the time I was struggling at the bottom of the river and the time I woke up on shore. It was several years before I asked my dad what had happened, and he didn’t remember the incident. That may seem strange, but Dad is too busy channelling God to be concerned with whether or not his children are drowning. I’m intensely curious about the blackout in my memory. Surely an unconscious child pulled from the water would have caused a stir, but if it did, it was over by the time I came to.