Time To Go!

When I was little my mom would take me over to one of our neighbor's houses and we would go swimming. During the summer it seemed like we went almost every day. I really liked to swim and play games in the water with my neighbor friends. We would play missile, marco-polo, and my favorite sharks and minnows. They had a diving board and it was great to be the shark. Standing on top of the board waiting for the perfect moment to turn and jump to catch your minnow prey. 

It was a blast being there and so I never wanted to leave. When I would hear my mom say, "Time to go", I would duck under the water and turn in circles. When I popped up I would take a big gulp of air and then quickly go back under as I heard, "Com'on it's tim....." I would just keep repeating this process as long as I could. One day this brilliant scheme back fired. I was doing my gulp and spin routine when I hit the gradual slope to the deep-end. Somehow in that moment I forgot how to swim and the top of the water seemed too far away. I found my self jumping toward the surface gulping, flapping my arms, pleading for help and not spinning. My mom patiently directed me to move toward the shallow end with each jump. She saved my life!