Life as a Lifeguard

Mommies have millions upon millions of jobs. We are nurses, waitresses, chefs, maids, launderers (not sure if that's a word or not, but it should be), chafeurs, grocery shoppers, errand runners, you name it, we do it. During the summer, we become lifeguards. I personally never took a lifeguard test at a pool or beach, but I have been tested by my kids, and luckily I have passed every test (so far).

Around Memorial Day, there was this insane heat wave going on here, where it reached a bazillion degrees every day for a week. I bought a new pool for the kids, one made of hard plastic that had a little slide molded into it. The slide is a little small for Princess, but she still has room to play in the pool part. [side note- every time I try to type pool, I type poop first... you can see what I'm usually writing about.] In the past, we have had the inflatable pools. We're so classy that my husband would inflate them with a leaf blower. Yes, I just admitted that. Anyway, this hard plastic pool looked good, so I bought it.

Memorial Day was the first time we used the pool. Princess and Pirate played in it while Trouble and Donkey were napping. I was able to sit in my chair next to the pool, and stick my feet in it. I was relaxing watching them play with their toys and try out the slide. Enter Trouble... his nap was over, so my husband brought him out to try the pool. My sitting time was over. I ended up standing in the pool because of how Trouble kept trying to drink the water, stick his face under water, or go down the slide backward. I wish this lifeguard would have gotten overtime pay that day.

There is a community pool down the street from us. We've been a few times, but never considered joining it until this year. A few weeks ago I took Princess and Pirate with my sisters in law and nieces and nephews. There is a water slide in the deep well. Princess went down it when she took swimming lessons two years ago. It was not a good experience. But on this day, all her cousins were going down the slide and she wanted to go too. Thankfully, I had enough sense to walk over with her and not just let her go with her 13 year old cousin. I talked her through exactly what to do, come up from under water, and swim right to the ladder on the wall. She was ready. She was excited. She laughed going down the slide. She was smiling when she came back up. Then I saw it, the fear on her face. I yelled to her to swim to the side. She started to, but she wasn't strong enough. She started to go under. I dove in the pool and grabbed her before I even had a chance to think about what I was doing. I pulled her to the side and got her out and she started crying. She was embarrassed. She finally calmed down and we were able to enjoy the rest of our day.