i went in

Have you ever thought about what you would do if your child was in trouble? Maybe I'm crazy, but I day dream about how I'd save my children if they needed help. Particularly, how I'd hunt down and save them if they were kidnapped, or how I'd jump into the water and save them if they were drowning. It's weird I guess.

Today Peter, Jack, and Ben all had their first swimming lesson together at the YMCA. Well, Peter has had swimming lessons before, but it was a first for Jack and Ben. I arrived late and introduced the boys to the teachers who were already in a full swing swimming lesson with the other 8 children that had arrived on time.

Since Pete has been before, I know the drill at the YMCA swimming lessons. There were 2 teachers for the 11 students. The teachers have all the kids sit on the ledge of the pool with their feet in the water. Then they each take the kids one by one and "swim" with them by holding them under the arms. Today, the kids were supposed to kick their legs swimming on their front and then their back in turn.

After one of Ben's "turns" his teacher set him back on the step of the pool so that he could climb up and sit on the ledge to wait his turn again. Then the teacher turned to face the rest of the children sitting on the ledge waiting. He did not see that Ben didn't go up the steps, but somehow went down. I don't know if he lost his balance in the water (it was about a foot deep at the shallowest step) or if he was trying to go down to the lower step, but in any case, he was now past all the steps and completely underwater unable to swim or touch the bottom. No big deal. I was watching the whole time and saw that the teacher was within arms reach of Ben. I was alarmed, but watched, waiting for the teacher to see him and grab him up. 1, 2, 3 seconds past and the teacher was still not aware that one of his students was underwater. He was talking to the group on the ledge. Ben was just off to the left and slightly behind the teacher. I stood up and started closing the 20-30 yards between where I sat and the area where they were in the pool. At the same time that I began moving, other parents started shouting at the teacher, trying to get his attention. 4, 5, 6 seconds past and I am standing on the ledge by the class looking down at the teacher and my underwater Ben an arms length from him. He looks up at me and another YMCA worker who are standing there. He still doesn't know what is going on. The indoor pool echoes and it is difficult to hear anything, even when you are inches from the person you are speaking to. 7, 8 seconds and I am there, as close as I can get to Ben without actually going into the water, waiting for the teacher to understand why we are all standing so near and shouting. As I was standing there looking at him and watching my child, I made a decision without thinking at all. I went in to the water, picked up my son, and pulled him out of the pool. I gave him a hug and held him for a while.

Ben was perfectly fine. He hadn't sucked in any water, and was not visibly frightened. In fact, he only let me hold him for about 30 seconds and then signaled that he wanted to go back to the swimming lesson. He would not have drowned in 10 seconds under water, but my instincts took over and I over-reacted. I was left standing against the wall, water up to my thighs dripping down from my jeans into my shoes. I felt like an idiot. Why didn't I just yell at the teacher again to reach out and grab Ben? Why did I go in the water?

I stood there for another 10 minutes until the lesson was over, then I took the boys into the locker room to get them all dressed. The YMCA worker who witnessed it all offered me some lifeguard shorts to change in to. I put them on and then covered up with a towel. We four walked outside into the 21 degree night and moved quickly to the car.

The fact is that Ben would not have drowned. The teacher would have seen him and picked him up. He was not really in any danger. Under the circumstances, I acted a little crazy, but if I had it to do all over again, I'd do the exact same thing. I would jump off a waterfall into a raging river to save my boys. I'd also offer up my pride and go fully clothed into the YMCA swimming pool.