"reach and throw, but never go"

that's the motto you have to remember if you are helping someone who is drowning. you can reach to them, and throw something to them, but never GO to them. UNLESS they are in water that is waist deep or below. or, if you're like, an olympic swimmer. because when someone is drowning and they realize that someone is there to rescue them, they will immediately try and climb on top of you to get out of the water. and then the situation could turn from bad to worse and become a double drowning.

i learned this and other super important information at water safety training tonight in claremont, new hampshire. it was a required course for residential staff. especially because it's summertime now and that's when people like to go swimming.

i found this training highly emotional. it took a lot to get through it. there were many times in the evening where i just wanted to cry. so hard. it was basically like 2.5 hours of "how children die."

did you know that drowning is the number 2 accidential cause of death in the united states overall, but number one in the state of new hampshire? NH is the only state where it's number one! and he said that new hampshire has some of the strictest water safety regs ever. so, that just doesn't make sense.

it only takes 10 seconds for someone to drown. TEN SECONDS. i had no idea. if you are watching people in the water you have to do face counts every 10 seconds. and we practiced this. he chose random people from the class and assigned them rows to count every 10 seconds. i was chosen and i had 12 people i had to count. there wasn't enough time in between the face counts to do anything else! no talking to others. no reading a book. changing a diaper. taking out a splinter.

and then we had to watch this movie. it's the only footage in the world of people actual drowning. taken from Orchard Beach in the bronx. there's this like, huge drop off underwater and tons of people get caught it in and drown. so, this guy who made the movie was the head life guard there and set up a camera on the back of the lifeguard chair and filmed it for a few days.

omg. soooooo strange to watch. i mean, the water would be JAM PACKED with people. and he'd be like, "see that boy in the back? he's drowning." and he would be surrounded by people who clearly just thought he was splashing and playing. it was horrible. and then at the last minute the lifeguard would swim in and save them.

except for this one guy. 6 foot tall man who had been drinking. drowned in 4 feet of water.

and then, at the end of the movie the narrator (who was the head lifeguard at the beach) was like, "i'd like to end by telling you this tragic story." and it was like, 'oh great, a tragic story to end with.' and he was telling the story and started crying and it was just awful.

so, the training was so eye opening. and also really scary to think that thousands of parents will take their children to the beaches this summer not knowing all this information. and that some of these parents will lose their children because of things that probably could have been prevented.

UGH.

so, the training was 2.5 hours. and he started by saying, "this is a 6 hour training that we're condensing to 2.5 hours! so i'm going to go really fast!!!" and then he'd be like, "oh, we can make it, we've only got half an hour!" or, "hang in there, almost done!!" and this just really bothered me that he had to keep saying this.

like, this is so important. we shouldn't be rushing through it. and i wrote that on the evaluation of the class. (i was the last person writing the evaluation in the room and i thank Hampshire College for that.) like, make the training longer. why does it have to be 2.5 hours? make it a whole day. get some pizza involved. get more comfy chairs. there's no reason this has to be rushed.

also, this guy teaching. he was really animated and very easy to listen to. and i kept hearing that all week leading up to the training..."oh, this is a great training, the guy does a great job." and yeah, he did do a great job and he was very engaging to watch. but, at the same time, i thought he was borderline insensitive. and that also really bothered me. and i wrote that on the evaluation too.

so, after the training i just felt like i was in this weird space. like, 'okay, so i just listened to hours about how children die....now what?' and it made me feel even weirder than it didn't seem that anyone else felt this way.

like, the first question i was asked after the training was, "can we stop at dairy twirl on the way home??" and it was like, "how can you think about ice cream after that?" it just didn't make sense to me. (we didn't end up going to dairy twirl because we went a different way home.)

hm. so, now i have a certificate from the training. i hope i never have to use any of the information i learned. we also got whistles. they are the second most powerful type of whistle in the world. they can be heard for 2 miles! and they are bright orange. and they float! and they are self-emptying of water. i feel like i should make it into a necklace and wear it all the time.

soooo. water safety training is done. not again for another three years. i'm glad about that. it was hard.

aliya is here now!!!! adventure begin!!! we're having a blogging session right now. and then we're going to go to bed.

tomorrow is my last morning of work until 12 JUNE!!!!! i can't believe it's here.

my last overnight is saturday night. EXACTLY THREE MONTHS from when i had my last night off. these last few weeks have been really hard to get through. it's like i feel semi-trapped in this place right now. and i've been in kind of a panic in trying to separate work from home. i realized how hard that is. and how stressed it makes me. it's a lot harder than i thought it would be.

i have more to say, but i think i'm done for now. i'm really tired and still feel sad from training. i'm very happy aliya is here, though. we have lots of projects to complete. awesome. i'm excited.

alright friends. have a good end of the week. and a good weekend. and everything in between. i'll talk to you soon again, promise.


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