I was so excited. I felt like such a big kid. Mom was finally letting me swim in a big swimming pool. Her rules were stay only in the shallow end, we would see about that. I was standing on the edge of the pool; the cement burned my toes from being baked in the California sun. I looked down to see if they had burned to a crisp but I couldn’t see past my chubby little stomach. I put on my goggles dramatically feeling very superior, but they got tangled in my yellow bangs and I needed to ask mom for help.  She untangled me but didn’t let me go until I was lathered with sunscreen and my Elmo arm floaties were blown up.

“Mooomm!” I whined. “You need these to help you, she replied. You’re not a good enough swimmer yet, you’re not a fish you know.” “Yes I am…” I mumbled under my breath. Before she could ask me what I had said I slipped right through her fingers to the shallow end, I wanted to start out small. By the time the water was up to my bellybutton I knew mom would be watching me, I tagged along with my cousin Olivia. Olivia was about the same height as me even though she was 2 years older. You can definitely tell she’s from California, because of all her freckles. I’ve always wondered if I ate a whole bag of carrots would my hair turn that orange color too? She has always been my favorite cousin; she was mom’s favorite too, so I knew she would trust her with me and stop watching us.

             Once mom looked away, I asked Olivia to go to the deep end with me. When she said yes, I jumped for joy and used my floaties to get me there. When we got to the deep end, I looked down and I saw my little feet dangling there. Then I spread my toes and played with the water. It looked so deep, I thought I was in the ocean and I wondered where all the fish were! It’s not scary I told myself, it’s not scary. I took a deep breath and slipped my floaties off. Down I went. I splashed and kicked. I tried to grab on to Olivia but she was distracted and thought I was trying to annoy her and pushed me off. The only one who noticed we were missing a person was dad. He knew right away I was in trouble.

When I looked up from underwater, I saw the big sun making reflections on the water and I kind of forgot where I was for a minute. Then I saw a big shadow come over the sun and felt strong arms wrap around me and knew right away it was dad. As we surfaced, I coughed and choked on the bitter water. It stung my nose, burned my eyes and the back of my throat. “Don’t ever scare me like that again!” He stammered. “I’m sorry dad.” got out, struggled to breathe. ”I just wanted to go to the deep end.” After dad helped me clear my lungs, he brought me over to mom. I didn’t even care that she yelled at me, just happy to be alive.