“TWEEEEEET!” The lifeguard's whistle blew as a flow of kids in flip flops and bathing suits nervously walked onto the pool deck. It was my first year in the 4th level of the Red Cross swimming lessons my mom made me and my little sister take every summer. The lessons only made me dread each summer. I didn’t understand why we were dragged out here every morning, I could swim just fine. The warm summer breeze blew my hair in all directions, making me shiver with either cold or fear. I shouldn’t be nervous. I have been taking these lessons since I was 4. I rubbed globs of sunscreen on my face and kicked off my new flip flops. The lifeguards lined up with clipboards that shined in the sun creating a blinding line of reflective metal. They were all young college students who desperately needed a summer job. So desperate, in fact that they agreed to teach little, fussy, whiny kids how to swim all summer long. None of them looked very pleased. After 10 minutes of anxiety, a lifeguard in grey sweatpants and a blond ponytail started calling names. I anxiously waited to hear my name. It seemed like a million years before my name was called. When they called me up I nervously walked up feeling like all eyes were on me. My group was full of kids that were all at least a year older than me. We walked to the deepest end of the pool. 12 feet down, 12 feet of coral water, 12 feet of terror. Deep water has always scared me. Not knowing what is down there is deeply unsettling. I sat and dipped my feet in. It was so cold. Our teacher told us to jump in and I slowly slid in and started doing warm up laps. After 40 minutes of evaluation, our teacher exclaimed “Time to dive for hockey pucks!” Everyone cheered. I felt like I was going to puke. Diving for hockey pucks involved two of my least favorite things; deep water and swimming in deep water. The class got out of the pool and lined up on the edge. Our teacher threw the hockey puck into the depths of the 12 foot end and I watched it slowly sink down to the bottom. One after one my peers jumped in and after about 10 seconds of being submerged, a sputtering head popped up with a hand holding the rubber black disk. Finally it was my turn. The hockey puck sank back down to the bottom. I took a breath making sure every ounce of space in my lungs was filled with air. Then I jumped. I sank faster than I expected and thousands of air bubbles rose up around me. I could already tell I was running out of air. I used every little bit of strength that I had to flip myself upside down so my hand was closer to the bottom. I could imagine that everyone on the pool deck was getting awfully worried at this point. “Where had she gone?” “She has been down there for an awfully long time now.” “I wonder what happened.” After all of my time thinking about what was happening above the water, I forgot what was happening below the water. Then I felt my hand touch something. Could it be? Had I actually gotten it? I grabbed the puck and pushed back up to the top gasping for air. Between breaths, I asked the lifeguard how long I was down there. She paused, looking at her watch. “About 7 seconds” she shrugged. 7 SECONDS? It felt like an eternity. I got out of the pool hardly noticing the pain in my ears from the water pressure. I couldn’t wait to tell everyone what I had done. 

Looking back, I have no idea why I was so scared. It was just a pool. I feel like everyone should put that into perspective sometimes. In the moment, it might seem like the scariest thing on earth but you will look back one day and ask yourself why you were so scared. It is very important to remember that. Sometimes you just have to dive for that hockey puck.