Daily Diary

This morning Jon and I realized that we are out of clean underwear, there's no more coffee, and no more toilet paper. I looked at Jon and thought about that for a moment. "We really need a wife," I said. Jon having read the book of right answers gave me a big squeeze. "You are my favorite wife. And it makes it more interesting wondering if there's going to be toilet paper when you are in the bathroom, or gee, is there going to be coffee this morning? Better yet, think what a wonderful thrill I get on the mornings I open my underwear drawer and there is another pair of clean boxers," and we both laughed very hard. I married the greatest guy ever!

Daily Diary

Friday was Jonathan's last day at Classical school and he had a huge history exam. He studied very hard and was quite frankly stressed out about it. On the way to school I just couldn't resist telling him that if he didn't do well on the exam, Mr. G would hold him back the following year. He took the news rather calmly and said, "Well, that's nice. Now I feel much better about it." When we got to the school parking lot, I did let him know that I was only kidding. His calm restrain disolved and every tick in his little body came out in full force. He began wrapping his arm around the seatbelt shoulder strap and unwrapping it, mopping his hair with his hands, and writhing around in general. "Mom!" he yelled totally exasperated.

"Yes?" I responded as if I had no clue what he was talking about. "Why do you do this to me?" he asked. "Why do you still fall for it?" I answered, and added "I must say I'm rather impressed with how calmly you took that news." Jonathan thought about this for a moment still exhibiting the nervous ticks. He unwrapped himself from the seatbelt, smoothed his hair over and reflected. "You know you love me," I said with a huge grin. "Besides," I continued," Don't you feel rather non-chalant about the exam now?" Jonathan thought about that for a moment and then his face broke into a broad grin. "Yeah, I have to say I do."

That afternoon when I picked him up the entire class was in a general state of intoxicated exuberance. "The exam was easy!" everyone was rejoicing- course it was probably because they all studied hard all week. Jonathan and Benjamin came running over to me. "Mom, can I spend the night at Benjamin's house?" Jonathan asked. I thought about that for a moment. I figured he had earned it. "Ok."

He ran off to throw his stuff in the suburban and jumped into Benjamin's car. I walked over to talk to Benjamin's dad. Over the course of the parent chat I discovered that Benjamin's parents would be gone for a couple hours that evening, and their older son would be babysitting, and they had a pool in the back yard. My heart sank at the thought of the pool. Jonathan tends to panic in the water, and then he needs to be rescued. But I had already said yes, and didn't want to go back on my word. So, I emphasized that the boys were not to swim unless there was an adult right there, and no swimming while the parents were gone. I also took Jonathan aside and said the same thing. Then they were off.

I followed up this conversation with a mom in the parking lot going over general kid horror stories and the need for being able to swim well. I also remembered that Jon had woken up that morning in the midst of a nightmare about drowning. Jon never has nightmares, so that was a little strange. The more I thought, the more I panicked and in short order had myself in a general state of hysteria.

I decided that I had to go and pick up Jonathan immediately if not sooner. He could in fact at that very moment be in the middle of the pool going into a panic attack and drowning. This was highly unlikely as he probably hadn't even arrived at Benjamin's house yet, but nonetheless I threw the kids in the car, and was on my way.

I must confess a pang of sheepishness when I turned into their driveway. Benjamin's mom came out. "Hi," she said very nicely but clearly a little surprised to see me. I stammered a wee bit and confessed my general state of neurosis when it comes to the safety of my children and my rather extreme fear of losing one of them to a drowning incident. She shrugged. "Well, whatever." Jonathan came out of the house very sad to see me. I told him to go play for an hour and we would just stay in the yard and wait for him. They live on a large property so there was plenty for the kids to run around and do. Benjamin's mom stayed outside and chatted with me. After about 30 minutes the kids all complained that they were so hot and couldn't they please go swimming. It was decided that since we didn't have swim suits, it would be all right for them to sit on the side of the shallow end and simply dip their feet in.

Pam had been planning on swimming so she jumped right in and then helped Caroline into a raft that she could paddle around the pool without getting wet. I settled along the shallow end of the pool with Vivvie on my lap, Oliver and Gabriel on either side, and Charles a little farther down. There was a ledge running along the inside of the pool and our feet rested on this ledge. Caroline was having a terrible time trying to paddle, so Pam swam over and started demonstrating the general technique. I became rather absorbed in the lesson, and was highly amused watching someone else trying to break through the fog of confusion that seems to surround Caroline any time learning is on the agenda.

I'm not certain how much time passed but Oliver suddenly said," Hey, mom, look at Charles." I turned and looked and there was Charles about a foot under the water, standing on the floor of the pool, motionless with his eyes closed. The water above him was completely still. I went into panic mode instantly, stood, put Vivvie on my hip and walked along the ledge bending toward Charles so as to grab him by the arm. I was calculating in my mind how long he had probably been under water, and how hard it would be to pull him out, but fearing there wasn't time to set Vivvie safely on the patio, I reached for him while holding her. Somehow I lost my footing, plunged into the pool, Vivvie and I both went completely under, and in the process I pushed Charles behind me, farther from the side of the pool. I was still calculating how much time I might have to rescue him, and trying to recall proper CPR technicque. I came up with Vivian and she immediately started spluttering and screaming so I knew she was ok, and then I reached for Charles and dragged him to the side and stood him up on the ledge. He was able to stand, and was looking at me with large eyes. I paused waiting to see if he had taken in water or if he would be able to gasp for air. After a moment he gasped for air, and I sighed relief. Charles couldn't decided if he should feel that it had been an interesting experience or start bawling and curl up in the fetal position. He finally decided that it was an interesting experience he would rather never repeat and sat on the side of the pool recovering.

As Pam had left us by the side of the pool, dressed and dry, she had come over in shock now that three of us were drenched. "What happened?" she asked, probably thinking there was something weird about this family and swimming pools, so maybe it was a good thing I had come for Jonathan. I said I had no idea, that Charles was suddenly a foot under, and I lost my footing rescuing him. I had a rather large scrap on my knee and shin, but other than that all was well. Vivian had even quit screaming but was holding my arm very tightly. Benjamin ended up spending the night at our house, and when we got home, I demonstrated to Charles what he should do next time he finds himself submerged in water. Because the close your eyes tight and be really still plan is only a good idea if you want to drown.