It sounds like Dessa had a fine time with her grandparents: she convinced them to take her to see Brave in the theater for the third time; that's my girl!
Meanwhile, Bryan and I went on a proper date together and also read a book aloud, which is Bryan's very favorite thing to do. We haven't had time recently; we started a book at Christmas, and are now, in July, on page 200. Bryan also performed an extended comedy routine for my benefit (Bryan is an introvert, but as far as I'm concerned, he's the funniest human being on the planet. Which is pretty much the reason we're married), and indulged me in a leisurely conversation about yoga. In conclusion, a few days without Odessa gave us each enough energy to be nice to each other. It was kind of like what being married back in 2008 was always like.
Anyway, we got Odessa back yesterday, and of course we were happy to see her. This morning I took her to the swimming pool, and she and her friend Tucker cavorted in the shallow end while Tucker's mom, Tabatha, and I chatted like moms in some mom chairs on the side of the pool.
Suddenly, though, I looked over and saw Odessa making the weirdest face: her eyes were really big and her mouth was under water. She was making a gurgling sound. She obviously thought she was drowning, which is what happens right before you start actually drowning.
Every once in a while, you get to test all your internal emergency response equipment, and today I totally used all of mine. Tabatha was like, "I've never seen anybody move that fast before in real life. You should go to the Rescuing-Drowning-Kids Olympics."
No, thank you.
Odessa was totally fine--I can't tell that she even inhaled any water. She just walked a little farther out into the pool than her height allowed and couldn't figure out how to get turned back around. She shook it off really quickly and swam for another hour after that. For my part, I made out pretty good with a spilled drink, plus I scraped my knee on the brick.
No biggie.
But what I did realize is that,
a) Dessa needs to learn to swim, and soon.
b) Even if it's nice to get a vacation from her for a couple of days, Odessa's the most important person in the universe, and I need her to not drown.
I also need you not to drown, because drowning freaks me out. You guys: please don't drown. If not for yourself, do it for me.
since reading this i have vowed that if i ever have kids they are learning to swim before learning to walk. i'm glad you are both ok, and that dessa, at least, will not be permanently traumatized! <3
ReplyDeleteBout the same thing happened to Jacob. He was playing at the edge of the lake and was wearing his life jacket. I was sitting on the boat trailer watching him. He tipped forward and got stuck. I went in the water in my socks!
ReplyDeleteRenee, so harrowing! Well, he lived to tell the tale, so that's good!
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