The water splashed up against the side of the pool,
drenching the cold, hard cement. I looked around me. There were kids
everywhere. So this is what swimming
lessons are like, I thought as I skipped toward the pool in my ruffle-skirted
swimsuit. I was taking lessons with my cousins. As I saw them, I slowed to a
walk. They lined us up and separated us into classes. I stood nervously between
my cousins Cheyenne, Sierra, Nathan, and Luke. I was taller than them, and
about two years older. “Come this way!” our teacher cheerfully called.
We followed, in as straight of a line as excited children
could manage. We all got into the chilly water. I clung to the wall, unsure of
what else to do. The other six kids in the class kept experimenting with
letting go of the wall. I, however, waited for instructions from the
instructor. He slid confidently into the water and smoothly swam in front of
us. “Okay, let’s swim to the other side. Ready. Go,” he said.
Before I knew what was happening, my cousins had turned
into fish, splashing toward the opposite wall. Just do what they’re doing, I thought to myself as I pushed off of
the wall. It felt like I was in a slow motion movie. I had pushed off hard
enough that I felt like I was progressing toward the wall. However, I soon
realized I was not and there was no way that I could return to where I had
come from! My limbs did not know what to
do. I began to feel myself sinking. My legs felt useless as I kicked them under
me. My arms flailed. I’m sure to the parents sitting on the side of the pool, I
appeared to be doing an extremely ineffective and pathetic dog paddle. All of
these movements were to no avail. I continued to sink. The last thing I saw above the water was
the image of my cousins nearing the wall and the splashing of the waves. My
vision blurred. My face became covered
by the cool, chlorinated water. I
watched as the air bubbles sporadically rose toward the surface in a
disconcerting way. All that I felt was panic, and then . . . everything became
blurry . . . .
* * * * * * * * *
It was senior year, full of activities at every corner.
“Hey Cassidy, want to go scuba diving?” Caleb called from
down the hall. Immediately, nervous jittery feelings came. That sounds so exciting and cool, I thought
to myself. How do I tell him no?
I heard the words, Caleb I’ll find out if I can go, but
I’ll probably see you there.”
What did I just
say?
I could not stop thinking about scuba diving all day. How was I going to scuba dive when I hated
swimming?
When I finally arrived home, I immediately went to
find my mom. She will know what to do,
I thought. “Mom, Caleb asked me to go scuba diving tonight. I think it sounds
super cool, but I hate swimming. What should I say?”
She looked right at me and said, “Tell him that you’ll go.”
WHAT? I thought to myself.
“You will have so much fun, Cassidy, and you know how to
swim now. Maybe if you like scuba diving Dad will take you with him to some
exotic place!” she teased.
I slowly walked down the carpeted stairs. My feet felt
heavy as I took a deep breath and descended to my room to find my swimsuit. Maybe it will be fun, I thought.
I arrived at the pool. “Cassidy! I’m so excited that
you came!” my best friend, Brooke, said as she opened the Idaho Falls Aquatic
Center door for me.
“Brooke, I am so nervous,” I said.
“Oh I am too, but I’ll stay by you and we can do it
together!” As our group gathered, the nervous energy was thick. I heard snippets
of conversation as people told of their past experiences scuba diving.
“One time my air tank was empty . . . just keep yawning to
pop your ears . . . my goggles came off . . . my jacket wouldn’t fill with
air.” My fight or flight response was rapidly kicking in.
What did I get
myself into? We neared the water equipped in
our giant vests with tubes attached. A tank about an arm’s length across was secured
firmly to each of our backs.
“Okay each of you grab the tube with the button on the top.
Push it down until it is completely full,” the instructor commanded. The
“whizzing” echo of air being spurted into the fabric jackets was heard across
the group. As I pushed my button solidly with my thumb, I slowly rose further
out of the water. I felt like an astronaut with so much equipment on. The
feeling of weightlessness as I rose only added to this effect.
“Now take a pair of goggles, rub this special liquid into
them to keep them from fogging up underwater, and fasten them tightly onto your
face,” the instructor said as she placed drops of a clear sticky liquid into
each eyehole. “Take the mouth piece and place it into your mouth. Now, I want
you to practice taking a breath. If you push the bottom of your mouthpiece it
will take out the water from your mouth which will help you when you are
underwater.” I placed the sliver of plastic into my mouth and pressed the front
button, but nothing happened. The oxygen was filling my mouth much like
breathing through a thick smoothie straw. “Now push the button to go down, and
you will be able to breathe underwater. Go ahead. Try it.”
My mind immediately went into a panic! I am going to purposely submerge my body completely in this water and
rely on this tank to give me oxygen! They must be crazy! This is like my worst
nightmare and all the worst things that can happen in a horror film combined
into one! I watched as one by one each of the members of my group slowly
sunk out of sight. The last one to sink was Caleb. His vest was almost as big
as him and his goggles were a dark blue. His eyes shone through the goofy
goggles like excited tennis balls. His eyes seemed to smile encouragingly as he
sunk out of view. You can do this
Cassidy. Piece of cake, I encouraged myself as I pressed the button to
descend and tried not to hyperventilate. The vision of water splashing was the
last thing I saw before I was completely submerged. You did it! I thought as I began to enjoy the disorienting underwater
atmosphere. I took a deep breath and watched as the bubbles rose from my
mouthpiece toward the surface in a fluid motion. I felt relaxed and calm.
 |
| Our group after scuba diving! We obviously had a blast!!! |
