Ok - so one year and two days ago (January 1, 2004), my sister's friend died in an airplane crash in Montana. It has been really had for me to get over and understand. So New Year's Eve was much more emotional than I thought it was going to be. During the countdown I found myself getting less and less excited...when those LONG 10 seconds were over...it was final. The first year without Jess had just passed by. HOW INSANE. I composed myself and had a few more drinks and was more than ready to go home when the bar closed at 2am.
January 1, 2005
I wake up about 12:30pm...feeling pretty hung over. I get up and get packed for a family Christmas party. Leave town around 2ish (pm). Get on the road for the 2 hour drive. The weather was pretty awful. It was raining and freezing to my windshield. I went through two bottles of de-icer...gotta love South Dakota!
(During the drive I think about Jess and the fact that she has been gone a year. I think about her mom and hope she is doing ok.)
Approx. 3 hours later I arrive at my intended destination.
My 2 year old son, T, decides he wants to go swimming with my sister, Spanky-(12) and his cousin, J-(3) and a bunch of other family members. He goes down the big waterslide a few times with Spanky and plays in the little kids pool and goes down that slide about a million times. About an hour after he started swimming my mom asked me where T is. I look over to where he was just MOMENTS...like 2 seconds...ago. I realize that I don't know where he is. My heart sinks. I am frantically looking around the BIG pool area to see if I can catch a glimps of him. Next thing I know...Spanky says "KATIE HE IS IN THAT BIG POOL" My heart stops beating...I am thinking "my baby can't swim!" We both run towards the pool. Before I get over to the big pool from where I was standing by the baby pool (which was like 10 steps tops)...my cousin, A, (who happens to be standing next to the big pool) realizes that T can't swim. A jumps into the pool, fully clothed, and saves my baby and manages to get out of the pool before I even make it to the big pool. (30 seconds tops!)
I am in shock. I see how high up the water is on A's chest. Thoughts are just RACING through my head. The first thing I think is OH MY GOD MY BABY IS OK!! The next thing that crosses my mind was...I SWEAR...A RUINED HIS SHOES! (Leave it to a girl to worry about shoes!) I have to leave the pool area. I wasn't even able to thank Adam for his act of kindness. I couldn't speak. T seems fine but I am completely out of it. I am thinking about the "what if's". I am shaking and SO scared! My mom comes and tries to comfort me and so does my sister, S, and my aunt, J-A's mom. My mom and J leave with T...they want to get him right back into the water so he doesn't become scared of it. S leaves too...at some point and then comes back about 15-20min later with A and J.
I look at A. I just start to cry again and I give him a hug. I tell him "Words cannot even begin to express the gratitude I feel towards you. Thank you just doesn't seem like enough". A said "Its ok. You don't have to cry. You would have done the same thing if you saw someone else's child. You don't need to say anything." I just hugged him and then tried to compose myself...again.
I have never been so afraid in my whole life. I almost lost my baby!
A is definatly my HERO! I am so thankful that he realized that T couldn't swim. I can't imagine life without my son!
I realize a few hours after the incident...that A had his new (a few months old) cell phone attached to his hip. It is totally ruined. I guess it is insured so he shouldn't have to buy a new one. (If for any reason he has to...I'll figure out a way to help him pay for it.) A said he would have rather saved my baby than his phone. I'm like "good call". (No pun intended!)
I know that this accident has bought so much into perspective for me. I realize, now more than ever, that I need to let go of the little things. I need to quit worrying so much. Maybe...just maybe...T learned that he is not invincible!