I have always had a deep respect for water. However, one Sunday in March my respect turned to fear. We were at Sea Glass Beach with some friends collecting sea glass while the kids played in the water. I'm really big on counting heads and making sure I know that everyone is safe. At one point I heard some commotion and saw a group of people pulling a man and boy out of a current. I looked again and saw there were other children in the current. That's when I started getting everyone out of the water to make sure we didn't add any more victims.
Then my heart stopped. I saw my husband in the current with one of the boys and a friend of ours. The men were working together to get the boy to safety. Time literally stopped. I felt like I was in a movie and everyone and everything started moving in slow motion. People were yelling but you couldn't hear what they were saying. I remember thinking, Steve will drown before he lets that kid. I can still close my eyes and see the three of them in the water.
At that point I went to get surfboards and my oldest son helped me to get them to the water. When we got back a group of people were lined up perfectly to shoot the boards quickly to those in the current (You would have thought we practiced all this if you were just a spectator.) Probably within a minute or two after receiving the boards, they were on shore.
As I looked at the event all the participants in the rescue were either Coast Guard, CG dependants or other Department of Defense employees and their families. A lady who lives in Puerto Rico came up to me and said had our group not been there that day they probably all would have been lost. While everyone "played" the part they were suppose to the real heroes were Steve (my husband) and Chris (our friend) as they risked their lives by jumping in to save that child.
Before we left and after everyone calmed down, we had the kids get into the water with us just so we wouldn't leave afraid. I remember thinking that it was about this time last year that my aunt drowned. When I got home and checked, it was a year to the day that she died. I had goose bumps and felt nauseous.
Then the dreams started. You know when you experience something how your mind plays tricks on you. The fear of the water increased and we didn't go back to the beach for a long time.
Thanks to the power of prayer and some amazing friends that have prayed for me I can now go and relax at the ocean. That was one of my first baby steps...just going and enjoying the ocean.
The next baby step was taking the kids without my husband. We live on this beautiful tropical island and we can see the water daily. It seems terrible not to enjoy it more often. So yesterday we went. The day was perfect! The first thing my oldest said was, "I'm off to check out the aquarium." His brothers quickly followed. Snorkel masks and flippers on they set out on their adventure. You know what, I felt peace! I still counted heads but I wasn't fighting that fear of "what if." When they came back they all had such joy on their faces and they had a few pretty good "fish tales" as well.
Then Bethany and Stevie sat on the shore while I went off to explore with the younger boys and our friend. What we saw was amazing. I wish I could tell you the types of fish we saw but I'm not really sure. I do know that they were created by an amazing God who loves us enough to share his beauty with us.
Once again we all learned something new on our island school. I learned that fears are real and can be conquered one small step at a time. The kids learned to play with fish in their own personal aquarium. We all learned a little more about our great God that day! We are all so truly blessed, let us focus on those gifts from God.
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| Picture taken by my youngest son Sammy (10). |
Love it, Becky, I just love it! You are an amazing writer and you inspire me!
ReplyDeleteI still remember when Steve almost drowned while scuba diving in Guam. It was a treacherous place to get off and on to the reef. The guys were diving while the moms and kids (and his mom) played on the beach. As they were coming in the waves were crazy and kept slamming him onto the reef and then sucking him back off. It was surreal because his mom didn't realize what was going on and was happily waving away, as I watched the other guys fight to save my husband. Finally when he got slammed against the reef again one of the guys grabbed him and pulled him up. He had He lost a flipper and his mask. He was cut from head to toe with coral and looked like someone had beat him all over with a baseball bat, but he was alive! It was a miracle, but very scary.
Then sometime around then a neighbor was diving with a teen girl who was visiting their family from the states. The same thing happened, only she DID drown. She actually died, but he performed CPR on her while they were still in the water and brought her back to life. Then he carried her on his shoulders up the very steep rock wall they had climbed down to the site and called for help. She made it, and is alive today. She goes to my church now and has a husband and two little kids. The first time I "met" her was when she came to our church a few years ago and told her story to the church. It was incredible to hear of the miraculous story all over again, and see her standing there years later telling it.
Like Steve and Melody, those people were saved by the heroic actions of others. Someday they will be standing there telling others about the time they almost drowned, and it will be your husband that is the hero they are talking about!