Swimming friendly weather is hard to come by up here. Cold temperatures, dangerous thunderstorms, and just plain old rain keeps us out of the water more than 7 months out of the year. So if we live near a swimming friendly anything and have spare time on our hands we are out there, come hell or high water!
My dad never, learned to swim, neither did my mother,but dad made sure my sister and I did. Dad forked over money to see that we learned and practiced the skill under the watchful eye of life guards throughout our childhood. Believe me, Dad was very careful where he spent money.
If anything has stuck in my mind from those days from what we were taught from the very beginning is was, yes how to swim, so I'm not afraid of the water but the second thing that was drummed into my head was a healthy respect for the water. When swimming, go with another person who knows CPR. When one is in the water the other is out. Keep a close eye on each other. When swimming in a lake never go into water above your neck and never dive into a natural body of water.
Sound boring or over protective of your life? Throughout the summer we hear of people diving off river cliffs who we will never have the opportunity to know. Recently a family went to their apartment building pool. A 5 year old boy, his father and mother were enjoying the rare opportunity to swim without anyone else around. The next thing you know the pool was surrounded by emergency vehicles as the sobbing mom who never learned how to swim retold the story of having to helplessly watch her family drown.
Way off topic? Yes. Waste of space? No. If this saves one person, or even eliminates a close call I will have made the world a better place.
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