health – Marce's View

If not, please take some time out to go learn and if you do know then make sure your kids know too. I don’t ever give out parenting advice, just not my thing. We are all learning as we go for the most part so who I am to tell anyone what they should and should not do. BUT, the swimming piece I just couldn’t help myself.

A few weeks back, our family went to a river for some fun in the sun. Little did we know, it would end with a very scary experience.

My fiance and I purchased 3 life vests earlier in August and thank God for that. He, our daughter (11), and niece (13) went into the water for a swim. They challenged themselves to swim across and back. They made it all the way out but on the way back, my fiance got tired. At the same time, he started feeling claustrophic in his vest and took it off. Yes we know it was not the best decision!

This quickly turned into a panic as he felt the vest wasn’t holding him up and he began to shout for help. Fortunately, our daughter was near him so she tried to calm him down and keep him afloat. He really did not believe he would survive. My niece began to swim back to try and help because we were limited on vests and she was already in the water. My sister also jumped in with no vest and began to swim out towards him.

Side note: You might wonder why I didn’t jump in? Short version: I panicked as I got in due to a traumatic experience of almost drowning in my teenage years (even though I know how to swim!!)

Back to the story: Some good samaritans in a raft, kayak, boogie board, and swimming noodles all started going towards him to help also! Yes there are still very kind people in this world.

Ultimately, the kayak was the life saver. He was able to get to my fiance the quickest and was able to get him to hold on and brought him to shore.

My fiance threw himself on the ground and did not get up for a few minutes. My niece and daughter made it back to shore and instantly started crying. They were scared and overwhelmed. They are his heroes. They kept their cool and because they know how to swim and kept their vests on were able to keep him afloat.

My fiance knows how to swim but in that moment he was too tired and panic took over. Definitely did not realize what a great investment swimming lessons were for my daughter until that very moment where she was able to maintain her composure and help out her stepdad.

My daughter learned at summer camp (extra fee) but there are many YMCAs that offer lessons as well as Boys and Girls Clubs. Please look into it, it’s worth every dollar.

Friendships…I have learned many things about this wonderful category of relationships throughout my life. Some lessons have been quite difficult especially getting older. So many times I have had falling outs with different individuals and then we have made up. This time around as a woman in my 30s (TOTALLY can’t believe I just wrote that lol) I have learned some relationships should be let go. No matter how much time, love, effort, and memories were created/shared, sometimes you just grow apart despite trying to find ways to stay attached or connected.

Thinking specifically about two people I grew up with and the fact that I will probably always call them my best friends, I know we took different paths in life, like COMPLETELY different. Once I returned home from college and found a full time job, I quickly jumped into my next degree program all while having a daughter and learning to accept that she would not grow up in a two parent home. Although we shared some similarities, our goals did not align. Yes we probably all wanted to be successful, be there for our families, while still maintaining a social life but our definitions of what that looked like were not the same.

I am happy to see that we have all grown and accomplished milestones in our lives. Our journeys took us different directions and that is okay. There is a certain point we reach in our lives where we have to begin surrounding ourselves with like minded people and at times it may be hard to accept that our once best friends are not those people.

This was definitely a struggle for me. I can tell you that I spent many nights thinking about this before bed and many long drives where it would cross my mind. For the most part, it was specific to one person because things did not really end well. We had some differences and it kept bothering me. With time though, it has become something I accept. The more I kept dwelling on it, the more I realized the relationship was not one full of motivation or growth and at this point in my life, that is what I need. I still think about it at times but I am happy with where I am in my life where my focus has shifted to my career, mom life, and health.

Be okay with change. Accept what is. Only worry about you can control!

Tag: health

Do You Know How to Swim?

Friendships Grow Apart…and It’s Okay!