My mother could not swim. In fact she could not stand water on her face. But she tried to make sure all of us could swim. Of course Daddy was a Navy man so he had to be a swimmer too.
One year after I was married they all went on a camping trip. There were some problems with the car but Daddy knew he could fix it.
There was a small lake just over the hill so my father helped them all get settled there so the kids could swim. Mom was the 'lifeguard'.
They had been swimming for some time when suddenly a brother and sister began screaming for help. Mom told them they were not funny and to stop it.
When she suddenly realized that they were actually in trouble she acted instinctively. She told my little sister to keep my baby brother from following her. She grabbed the only stick she could see and headed into the water.
As she got closer to them she saw that myy brother was trying to help my sister. Mom told him to get out of the water and to tell our other brother to go get our father from the other side of the hill.
In the meantime Mom waded out as far as she could. Her foot caught on a root or something under the water. She used it as a anchor because the water was up to her mouth.
She stretched as far as she could and calmly said, "Becky grab the stick." Of course my sister was panicked. She was flailing around and not listening.
She went under water but was able to kick herself back up. Mom could see my sister was getting tired. She kept telling her to grab the stick.
After another trip under the water Mom could see that another time my sister would not come back up.
She stretched farther than she felt safe and sternly told my sister to grab the stickstick.Somehowister took hold of the stick and Mom jerked it hard toward her. The stick was old and broke but it did what was needed.
Even though Mom was losing her footing she grabbed my sister and tried to propel them both toward shore. Daddy and my brother came running over the hill just as Mom and my sister were getting out of the water.
It goes to show that even though there was good chance that my mother could have drowned she needed to save her child. A mother's love is special indeed.
such a nice sharing dear Emma
ReplyDeleteyour mom was surely not just a brave lady but a loving mother who did not care about herself and got into water even she did not know swimming wow
that is really impressive !
i am a mother and i was afraid of water for most of my life until i visited sea and all fears disappeared surprisingly i wonder how
before when my kids would insist for boating during picnic i would ask them no because i feared that if something went wrong they will no be able to swim .thank goodness now both elder sons learnt swimming and youngest one is trying as well .
i think most important thing your mom did was to remain calm ,this is how she could protect her daughter
My mother was amazing.
DeleteWow, great story. Great mother.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that most mothers would try to save their children.
DeleteWhat a truly incredible story about your mother's rescue of the children. IWhat a scary time that must have been. I'm so glad it turned out the way it did. I swim hardly at all, very poorly, and only in places whee I could put my foot down if I needed to. Our three children swim like fish, I am happy to say.
ReplyDeleteI was not there so I only know the story from what the people in it told me. My mom was a hero.
DeleteYour mom was most definitely a hero, Emma, and she did what she had to and thankfully was successful. I wondered if it ever encouraged her to try and learn to swim afterwards.
ReplyDeleteNo. She could not stand to have water covering her face. It was a phobia of sorts. My oldest son has the same problem. He tried and tried to learn to swim but he just could not stand having his face covered.
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