LEARNING TO DROWN

As a child, I was taught how to drown before ever being taught how to swim.   The method of which I was taught was through George picking me up and then tossing me into the deep end of our pool without even a warning. A little back story, George was the person who watched over my brothers and me when our dad was busy. If this were a movie, he would be considered the stand-in, the stunt man, the man who does all the hard work but gets none of the credit, that was given to dad. George was also the one who taught me how to ride a bike without the training wheels, play pool, and drive a car, but those lessons came later in life. The first lesson, besides not talking with my mouth full, was learning to drown. 

I was six or seven when playing around with my two brothers at the pool. Though none of us knew how to swim yet, thanks to inflatable bands around our arms, we were permitted in the pool's shallow end. We would only venture over to the deep end on one of the floats we had, or we would hold onto the edge of the pool and only let go once we were back in the safety of the shallow end.  

However, one day, before putting on any of the inflatable bands, I was swiftly snatched up and then tossed into the deep end. In a panic, I began to splash around hysterically while making my way back to the edge.   The moment I got there, though exhausted, I was once again snatched up and tossed back in, but further away from the edge.   George then yelled out, "STOP MOVING YOUR ARMS AROUND!"

Though I knew very little about swimming, I was sure not moving around wasn't going to help, yet I did as I was told, and instead used my legs to keep me afloat. But then George yelled out the silliest thing, "STOP USING YOUR LEGS AND SINK!" Again, no expert on swimming, but I was pretty sure sinking wasn't a part of it; still, I did as I was told, but just before I began to sink, George had one final instruction, "PUSH UP WHEN YOU FEEL THE BOTTOM."

The thought of drowning scared me, so I kept my eyes tightly closed on the way down while I kept my toes pointed towards the bottom as much as possible; that way, I could reach it faster. Though it was only a matter of seconds, it felt like forever with my cheeks full of air and eyes tightly closed, knowing that I was sinking further and further down. Suddenly, I felt the bottom and instantly opened my eyes, and just like a bullet being discharged from a gun, I shot myself upward, releasing all the air in my cheeks along the way. The moment I reached the surface, I took a deep breath only to be told to do it again; however, I kept my eyes open and focused on George as I sunk back to the bottom.

A few more times, and then George told me to aim for the edge, but just as I reached it, he once again snatched me out of the water just to throw me back in, but in no time, I was back at the edge eagerly anticipating being thrown back.   After a while, though I had yet to learn to swim, I no longer feared drowning.     

Unfortunately, now as an adult, I am once again being thrown into the deep end, only I no longer have George to focus on.