Sunday ~ June 20, 1999 ~ Part Two

Father And Son
 

I wish all dads a happy Father's Day!

Being a dad myself,  I guess I could say that I've done a decent job at it,  although I'm sometimes sensitive to the fact that maybe I haven't been the best dad I possibly could be.   It's just a feeling,  and family and friends will tell me otherwise,  but I guess all dad's feel that maybe they could've done better.

One thing however has made me feel good about myself,  and yesterday my son suddenly brought it up,  maybe because it was going to be Father's Day.   That one day a few years back,  I saved him from drowning.   To this day,  the incident has made my son and I very close...   and we seem to be bonded for life because of it.

He told me yesterday that he was thinking of the time I pulled him out of the water,  how he was trying to reach for his cousin's ball and fell into the deep end.

Not being a strong swimmer yet,  he was struggling underwater.   The hotel pool was very crowded that day and there were no lifeguards.   I was standing about 25 feet or so from the pool,  and had just arrived from our hotel room.   By sheer luck or fate,  I noticed right away that my son was in trouble, and it was the eeriest thing that my three sisters and no one else in the pool noticed.   But it didn't matter.  In a split second I was able to run as fast as I could and jump into the pool fully clothed and pulled my son out of the water.  Fortunately,  he hadn't taken in water to his lungs yet,  and was just at that point
where he was gasping for breath.

Seeing your own son struggling underwater is something I hope no other dad should have to witness, ever.   It gives me nightmares sometimes.  But I'm just glad I was there and was able to be there for him when he really needed me.  And for that he seems forever grateful.   I
definitely feel we are bonded for life,  and it really has brought us even closer together in our father-son relationship.

Nowadays,  my son gets private swimming lessons from a very good swimming instructor,  and he now swims like a fish!   I don't ever want
to have to go through that again, ever!