When Things Go Wrong

I recently read a post on another blog about how many of the blogs we read are about the "warm fuzzies" and how those people appear to be perfect and nothing bad ever happens to them. Either that or they really just don't want people to know about the other stuff. She then went on to tell about how on that day her husband and she had been swimming in their pool with their 2 young children. They looked away for a few seconds and when they looked back their youngest was going out into the pool. Of course she was fine and it was really just a scare - it put things into perspective for this family.

Bad things happen to good people. Bad things happen to good parents. We make mistakes. We can be careless. We take for granted those things that we have become use to. Today, my girls were outside swimming in Morgan's pool. It is a wading pool about 6'x10' and only 2' deep. Ava wasn't sure about playing in the pool because I had just filled it up with water, so it was pretty cold. But after about a minute she was okay with it and began playing with Morgan. They rolled a ball back and forth in the water and played with the variety of pool toys that Morgan drags in there. I was busy doing stuff, as usual. When the girls are playing outside, I often bring something to read. Today I was doing something for work. That was my first mistake. Pool, Ava, work. Not 3 things that should be put together. I took for granted that my 6 year old swims well. But, she is a 6 year old. I should have never thought that she should be responsible enough to keep her eyes on her 1 year old sister. So, as described above, I found myself in the same situation. I was sitting under my umbrella, watching the girls in the pool, and looked down at my work. I can't be sure how long, but my guess is only seconds. I then looked up and see Ava floating, face down, in the pool. I didn't panic because I saw Morgan standing next to her. I guess at first things didn't register. I thought she had slipped and Morgan was helping her get up. Then it hit me, Morgan was just standing there watching her and doing nothing. Quickly, I ran to the pool, jumped in and pulled her out. Morgan was clueless. She didn't even know what had happened. Ava was fine. I pulled her out and she looked at me then started to cry. So, like I said, seconds.......only seconds......but, what if I had looked at my magazine for a few minutes. Morgan was swimming, clueless to what her sister was doing. They were being quiet. What if?? It only takes seconds for something to go wrong. My decision to work today when I should have been watching my children, could have cost me more than I ever want to imagine. Yes, good parents make mistakes. Bad things happen to good people. I can tell you this is not a mistake I will make again. And 6 year olds should not be expected to keep their eye on their little sister. Not even for seconds. We do know that she must have taken in a little water. Morgan thinks it's kind of funny and Ava laughed about it too, but when we got inside and I was changing her diaper, she let out the loudest burp we had ever heard from her! That's so like us to find humor even in the bad things. And then of course she had pooped in her Little Swimmer - and for those of you that have used them, you know they don't hold anything in!! So a funny, messy end to our scary experience and all is well, however lessons learned.