A Narrative About A Childhood Mistake

Childhood Mistake It’s hard to think a three year old could possibly manage to drown themselves when they have extreme parental supervision, are equipped with arm floats, and have clear instructions to not take off said arm floats. But even at a young age I was a bit of a rebel. It was late August when my family visited Naples, Florida with my brother and I, my brother was two and I was three. Right as hurricane season was beginning, I remember having to turn up Dora the Explorer on the television because the winds were so loud lapping across the windows. Despite the dreary sky, the weather was muggy and hot, so we decided to drive to the “big pool” which was, at my age, extremely deep and long. My mom suited me up and squeezed my arms into two pink arm floats. Before I was placed into the pool with my father I was given specific instructions, “Do not take off your arm floats, …show more content…
My dad hopped out of the pool, while still watching me, to help my brother dry off, while my mom was collecting our Thomas the Train cars. Within the split second that my dad had his back turned on me, I can recall fuming because “I couldn’t swim.” I knew I could swim if I tried, I mean Finding Nemo made it look so simple. I decided I could swim and pulled off both of my arm floats simultaneously, naturally, I sunk like a rock.
I don’t know if my young mind believed I would walk on water like Jesus, or have the swimming capabilities of a mermaid, either way, I did not. As the chlorine of the deep blue water burned my eyes, I reached toward the surface, my hand outstretched for anyone to save me. Any other child might have been terrified that they were submerged underwater, but I remember having no fear, and even a feeling of serenity as I heard the echoing of the water. Suddenly, cascading above the water was a superhero diving in to rescue me from inevitable