You probably can't swim

Just another PSA from your friendly neighborhood blogger.

It's almost summer people and that means pools and lakes and swimmin holes.

Although, I don't know where there would be a swimmin hole near me but............
well there is a crick and although shallow, I think that counts.

I was watching a story about drowning (uplifting,  I know) and they were saying that most
people do not have the ability to save themselves in the event of a water emergency.
In other words most people can't truly swim.
So the red cross has this new initiative to cut drowning in half.
This is a great idea.

It got me thinking about my childhood "swimming lessons"

My Father always wanted a pool, so when he found the lovely 3BR/2BA with Florida room and kidney shaped pool on the outskirts of Tampa, ecstatic was an understatement.

My mother being a bit over protective, decide we should know how to "not drown" and enrolled my brother and I in water survival courses at the Lake Magdalene YMCA.

Water survival courses are very different from swimming lessons.
It truly is a "how not to drown" lesson.
They don't teach you to swim, they teach to float, tread water, climb out of water without a ladder or stairs.....basic water survival.

It's terrifying.
No it really is, they throw you in the water when you least expect it, hold you under, IN THE DEEP END and basically "pretend" to drown you.
It's a fun filled Saturday afternoon for the kiddos.......NOT!

Mom could not figure out why my brother and I hated our swimming lessons.
It wasn't until Parent's Day that the horror of what was happening was revealed.

I know my Mom did not realize that we were basically being drowned every Saturday and
I'm sure many other Mothers had no idea.
She felt bad.....like really bad but you know what.....it was the right parenting move.

Sidebar - before everyone gets their panties in bunch over me using "Mother's" and not including Fathers.....this was the 70's. Mom's did all this stuff, Dad's were on the golf course. I know, the 70's was not that long ago yet we've come so very far. 

The lessons were scary, lots of kids, myself included, cried going and coming from that class.

That being said, I can tread water like a Navy seal, I've gotten myself out of three rip tides, one off the coast of Cancun.
Don't swim in Cancun......just don't, you'll drown.

 I have been left in the middle of Lake Lanier.
Yeah, I fell off the tube, no one paying attention, left in the middle of Lake Lanier.
Not ok guys, NOT OKAY.

But I knew how to rest and tread so I didn't panic or get too tired.
Which left enough energy to beat the crap out of Brett when he and the other idiots realized I was

A) not on the tube
B) no where to be found

I'm rambling again.....here's my point, there has already been a horrible drowning tragedy in my neighborhood and it's not even summer.

If you think you can swim, check yourself.
If you can't do these basic things, you could be in big trouble if it suddenly goes wrong.

http://www.redcross.org/news/press-release/Red-Cross-Launches-Campaign-to-Cut-Drowning-in-Half-in-50-Cities

These critical water safety skills, also known as “water competency,” are the ability to: 
step or jump into the water over your head; 
return to the surface and float or tread water for one minute; 
turn around in a full circle and find an exit; 
swim 25 yards to the exit; and exit from the water. 
If in a pool, you must be able to exit without using the ladder.