I designed this website not just because I had a lot of pictures and my collages just lying about. But because I felt like sharing Soak City with others, since it has changed my life so much. I have gained so much in these past three years. I am not the same person I used to be. Now I have gained friendship, courage, confidence, and much more. It started as just a job, but evolved to something else.
I don't really know if there is such a thing a destiny or fate. But in February of 2001, something made me go back . . .
It was Career Day at La Serna High School. A few months after I had turned 16 and a few months before the end of my junior year. My class was in the first group to go and visit the gym. Once inside, I aimlessly looked around at all of the presentations. Finally, I reached the section for Knott's/Soak City. I don't know why I picked up an application and filled it out but I did. I didn't turn it in though. After I had filled it out, I kept it with me for the rest of the assembly. Then it came time for the next group to arrive. I left with the application still in my hand and I was almost back to my classroom, when my feet turned around and took me back to the gym. I turned in the application and went to class. Later on, I was called in for an interview. On the application I had stated that I would work almost any position at Knott's. But during the interview, she asked me if I could swim. (I have been swimming in my grandma's pool since I was a little girl. In the sixth grade, I wanted to be a ballerina, but my mother signed me up for synchronized swimming classes instead.) I said yes and she asked me if I would rather be a lifeguard at Soak City. I had to think about it, yes it did sound cool but I honestly hadn't thought about it before. Then I thought of Art, my first real boyfriend from about a year before. He had been a lifeguard at the Y.M.C.A. He always smelt like chlorine (in the good kind of way) when he visited me after work. Then I thought maybe I could be a better lifeguard than he had ever been. So I said yes and started down the path that I am on today.
I still wonder what kind of person I would have turned out to be if I had not gotten a job as a lifeguard at Soak City. Back then, I was just a shy girl, with no friends and no confidence in myself. Now I am in a Sorority and I am on staff for Camp Titan (A camp for underprivledged children). I have even used my training to help hurt people. It is amazing how things have changed.
Before Soak City, I never really had a best friend. I knew people that were nice to me at school, but I never went out. My books were my best friends. But that changed the day I had to take the drug test for Knott's. I was waiting inside with my mom and in through the front door came Bryan Balderman. My mom remembered him from Freshman Year when he had come over to my house a couple of times. Since then, we had spent little to no time together. That afternoon, my mother convinced Bryan that we should carpool together. Since then, Bryan and I have been the best of friends. And each year, I convince him to keep coming back to Soak City with me. Except for this year.
Now my confidence, it took most of the first year to start to build it up. But it is a common known fact that one cannot be quiet and be a lifeguard. You have to be able to yell loud enough that the guests understand what they are supposed to be doing. And you have to have good people skills, when you are dispatching the tops of slides. Nobody likes a mean person or an emotionless robot. I worked on my skills greatly that first year and have been perfecting them since then. But what helped the most was Top Gun. I still do not know why I was chosen to be one of the lucky few, but I was. I was the youngest person there and I don't really think I got to know any of the others. Yet I learned a lot and was inspired to come back next year and learn more.
Oddly enough, the Four guys that have affected my life these past 7 years, have all been lifeguards.
Bryan, who became my best friend and who broke the curse. Art, who taught me about life and relationships and who indirectly made me a lifeguard. David, who I learned about the concept of "Love" with and the Cold, Harshness of heartbreak. And the last guy,Rich, who taught me to trust again and gave me a gift that I will never forget, I will always care about him though we may never again be in each others lives.
I was once asked why I wish to be a lifeguard and I answered:
"I want to be a lifeguard because more than anything in the world I enjoy coming home: tired, sore, a little bit sunburned, but happy. Happy because an ordinary girl like me managed to once again change the world through my actions that day. I have changed the lives of thousands of people. All because I went to work and made sure that everyone who entered Soak City, left Soak City (although a little tired, more than likely a bit sunburned, but most defiantly alive). For the same reason I donate my blood, my Life saves others. People are alive because of me."