{"id":13998,"date":"2024-12-01T20:21:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T02:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/?p=13998"},"modified":"2024-12-01T20:21:21","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T02:21:21","slug":"water-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/?p=13998","title":{"rendered":"Water Rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve never been a swimmer. Childhood swim lessons didn\u2019t take, even with three tries. Sure, I learned to float and to tread water, but I could not\u2014no matter how hard I tried\u2014put my head under without holding my nose. I was told to take a deep breath, then exhale slowly while submerged, but I couldn\u2019t get the&nbsp;<em>slowly<\/em>&nbsp;part. My breath would be gone in a second and then the water entered my nose unhindered, filling every cavity in my head and overwhelming me, not only with water, but with extreme fear. In other words, I panicked. Big time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My fears grew in my teens when I nearly drowned in the ocean. I\u2019d dogpaddled out to a sandbar one day with no problem, but when I attempted it the next day, the tide was in, the water deeper, and I tired before reaching the sandbar. When I stretched my feet downwards to rest, I couldn\u2019t touch bottom and started splashing wildly, my face being mercilessly hit by waves, head going under. Fortunately, a nearby swimmer saw my panic and towed me to shore.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When my kids were little, our family joined a neighborhood pool. After all, it was a fun activity to fill the summer days and they needed to learn to swim. While encouraging them to not be afraid of water, I would force myself to put my head under as I held each of their hands rather than my nose. We\u2019d move in a circle, singing\u00a0<em>ring around the rosie<\/em>. When we got to\u00a0<em>ashes, ashes, we all fall down<\/em>, under the water we\u2019d go. Pure torture for me, so I seldom did it and was always quick to resurface, but it helped the kids grow comfortable when submerged. They also had better outcomes with swim lessons than me. Mission accomplished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the kids now grown, I have no reason to get back in the water. If we take our grandchildren to the pool, George splashes with them and I watch from the side. He\u2019s an experienced swimmer and scuba diver, the perfect one to help them get comfortable. I\u2019m content watching over the towels and car keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">George would love to go on an ocean cruise, but I\u2019ve told him he would have to go with a different wife. I refuse to be so far out in the water that I can\u2019t see shore. When walking on the beach, if I even get wet, it\u2019s never more than my toes. Sharks, you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Heaven help me if I ever get swept up in a flood, like what recently stormed through the Appalachian Mountains. People drowned and homes and businesses were destroyed. The stuff of nightmares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It may seem odd that water is the only liquid I consume. I don\u2019t drink coffee, tea, alcohol, or sodas. Only water. It refreshes me and quenches my thirst. But apart from drinking it, I stay away from it. Don\u2019t much like taking a shower. And don\u2019t ask even ask about a bath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s no better water rescue than flat refusing to get in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve never been a swimmer. Childhood swim lessons didn\u2019t take, even with three tries. Sure, I learned to float and to tread water, but I could not\u2014no matter how hard I tried\u2014put my head under without holding my nose. I was told to take a deep breath, then exhale slowly while submerged, but I couldn\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13999,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13998\/revisions\/13999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}