A Day of Firsts

Yesterday at work, I had my first assist.  It was on my second stand of the day--Computer 2.  I was talking to a guest about Disney and her visit while watching a little boy along the side of the pool, maybe a foot to my left.  He was bouncing up and down and completely within arms reach of the side, so I thought he was playing.  But then he went under and had the classic look of surprise--stage one of drowning.  I reached my tube out of him to grab and pulled him over to the side of the pool.  I lifted him up to sit him down on the ledge.  His older sister swam over and his dad walked over.  I sat there with him for a few minutes to calm him down.  After he was calm, his family moved over to a different side of the pool where it was shallower.  A number of guests came up to me afterward saying, "I saw what you did with that little boy.  You did a great job.  You completely controlled the situation by staying calm."  And other things to that effect.  It was so nice to hear because inside I was completely freaking out!  I was shaking for a couple minutes after the whole thing happened.

At Bowling 2, I talked to guests who were from Colorado.  That's also a first.  I've met a handful of people from Colorado while I've been down here, but never a guest in the pool while I was working.

Later when I was at Hippy 1, I saw another first.  A guy was in the pool with tattoos of Megatron and Optimus Prime on each peck, a sail boat on his hip, a couple others on his legs, and...(drum roll, please)...Beevus and Butthead sitting on a couch as a tramp stamp.  And it was huge!  So attractive...

Finally, on my last stand of the day, Hippy 3, I came the closest to jumping in that I ever have.  Many times have I gotten down off my stand, walked over to stand as close to the child as possible, put my whistle in my mouth, and gotten ready to radio the call in.  But this time was different.  During the bump, there was a lot of chaos going on, it seemed.  There was a South American family that kept breaking the rules, a guard needed to use the bathroom, so it wasn't as smooth as it usually is.  The guard who speaks Spanish went over to talk to the family, right next to the guard on Hippy 1.  I was standing where I'm supposed to for the bump to come through, which puts me right next to half of Hippy 1.  I noticed a girl start to struggle in the middle of the petal, where it's considerably deep.  She was with her two sisters and appeared to be the youngest.  Their parents were no where in sight, and the guard on that pool didn't notice her.  After a few seconds, she went under, just like the little boy did in the morning, so I put my whistle in my mouth and started running.  Literally when my foot was planted on the side of the pool ready to jump, the big sister grabbed her.  I stopped my self as I teetered over the water and watched for a few more seconds.  The dad finally walked up, but he truly hadn't noticed anything.  At least he was in the water with the girls after that.  Thirty seconds later, I was bumped off for the night.  Such a close call.

I know I've been super bad at blogging lately, so I'll get on my game ASAP.  I have to much to write about when it comes to Sam and Ellie's visit and Monday Night Football in Jacksonville.  Lots of exciting things to come!