I Saved Lives

Also known as, Not really, but I was a life saver! [ Mmmm lifesavers... ]

Not many people actually knew this about me, but I was a lifeguard for awhile.

Now most people see this and go, well that’s exciting, did you yell at kids at a waterpark?

[ Uhhhh, no. ]

I was a lifeguard at a swimming pool, in a rural area of Wyoming. This swimming pool was privately held, but had hooks with the EMT’s and Search and Rescue.

That’s right.  Being a lifeguard in this area, meant you were on the backup river search teams.  We were taught and practiced how to search for people in fast moving streams.  And most notably, The Snake River.  I dreamed of the day, when they would call us off the bench to be in the big game, to search for a loved one, and help the families searching for what happened to their children, spouses, parents.

[ Okay, that just sounded weird to say ]

Search and Rescue in this area was almost a celebrity status position [ Harrison Ford was a pilot for the area search teams ]. I still remember seeing friends getting pictures with Harrison after getting flown up to a remote area. [ Sigh... not me ]

I was a bench warmer for the Pro team.  I practiced with them, learned crisis management, and ran practice run’s with EMT’s.  But… I was a Pro Lifeguard.  I pulled kids out pools. Listened to screaming parents.  Pulled a frantic mom out the pool so the other lifeguard could get to her child.  I watched in mid air after a kid grabbed the swinging rope and aimed for a group of kids, launched in the air.   Me and another guard, [ In slow motion of course ] Ran and yelling for the kids to look out, as he landed on two of them [ Punk kids ]. Pulling a child out of a pool. To give him CPR, and to watch his lifeless body come back to life. [ You want a powerful moment... ]

I learned crisis management.

And this is actually something that has a great deal of value for me.  With my kids, I was able to look at a situation and be able to evaluate what the real problems were.  To figure out while two kids where screaming and crying at each other, that the reality was, one took the others candy. And that nobody was actually dying.

I learned how to see through lies.  There was a time, when my kids would get so upset at me, as I would look at them and I knew they weren’t telling me the truth.  I may not have known what the truth actually was, but I knew they weren’t telling it.  There has been times where I would let them lie to me, and I would leave with them this, “Well, I trust you.  You know what’s right, and I hope your telling me everything”

Every time, it either failed to happen, or if it did, they would say that it was a miserable time… And even an apology every now and then.

[ Hmmm I wonder why? ]

I see everything that I learned, everything I experienced, as a way to support my family.  To teach them how they can be better, how they should live.

The moment I had kids, I went from being a bench-warmer, to playing for the pro team. And like every pro team, you have to continually practice and be ready for the big game. ‘Cause when the big moments happen, you have to be ready.