9. Bursted Bubbles (Personal Narrative)

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 . . . .

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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!!!