*sighs* A pool almost killed me, too. 😭

I may have saved a life five years ago, but 35 years ago, someone saved mine. It happened 35 years ago this Spring–unsure what exact month but you can’t blame me as I was only 6 when it happened. What I do remember is: I was in the Philippines at some beach resort my family and I were staying at, and I was running around like unrestrained six-year-olds would. I’m not sure what got me into the pool; I don’t recall being pushed or knocked into it. Somehow, I do remember falling down and down, unaware I was sinking into the deep end. And then someone got ahold of me and brought me back up. When I returned to surface, I saw my parents and relatives surrounding me, making sure I was OK. I wasn’t in a state to where I needed to be revived via CPR or go to the hospital, but I was definitely disoriented from it all. And, as far as I know, I didn’t sustain any neurological or health issues from the incident (thankfully).

That someone who saved me from drowning was my cousin. I’ll always be thankful for her, and while I haven’t seen her in almost 30 years, I hope she’s doing well.

All this said, I still have not made the efforts to learn how to swim since then. You’d think my parents would’ve enrolled me in swimming lessons right after that, but nope. (And young me probably would’ve noped out of those swimming lessons then because I was scared of drowning again!) I’d be the girl who would either hang out in the jacuzzi or in the shallow end of the pool while watching others play Marco Polo in the deep end. Other things held me back: weight issues, money issues, lack of time, still scared of drowning…Now, it’s just trying to find some free time in my schedule. I guess I got another goal to achieve by or before I turn 50 (the other goal being having little to no debt): learning how to swim.