1 mississippi, 2 mississippi, 3 mississippi, 4 mississippi, 5 mississippi, 6 mississippi, 7 mississippi, 8 mississippi, 9 mississippi, 10 mississippi, 11 mississippi, 12 mississippi, 13 mississippi, 14 mississippi.
That’s it. It’s not much time. Yet this weekend it was enough time to set in motion events that could have changed our life.
It was just a regular old hot AF Saturday in New Orleans. Jake and Isabel were going in the pool. Jake got the pool ready while Isabel was inside. Upon going outside and before going in the pool, Isabel had to list our 3 major pool rules:
1) There has to be an adult in the pool
2) She has to say 1, 2, 3 before jumping into the pool or leaving the shallow ledge
3) She has to walk on the pool deck
Jake picked her up and put her on the shallow ledge (start the clock) and talks with Isabel. He turned around for a moment because the waterfall turned off and he was going to turn it back on from his phone (9 seconds in).
Then…She slipped. She went to step onto the first step and lost her balance and fell to where she couldn’t touch. She kicked as hard as she could and kept her head up for a few seconds. Enough time for Jake to get to her and scoop her up. (14 seconds later)
Lucky for us, Jake was there and moved quickly to rescue our drowning Isabel. I don’t use that word lightly, she was drowning. She didn’t get a mouth full of water, she didn’t require CPR, but had Jake not been there she would have drown. It was scary. I’ve watched the video over and over and it scares me every single time.
Take this as a warning this summer. If you’re in a pool as the responsible adult – PAY ATTENTION! If you’re in a pool and not a designated responsible adult – Pay attention anyway. Remember, a drowning victim doesn’t splash around like in the movies. It may sound stupid, but verbally hand off direct responsibility for watching each child when you have to go to the bathroom or when you have to answer a phone call or text. 14 seconds is all it took to go from the start of a great time to a potential disaster.