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Blogs by CJ Heck
A Lifesaving Whisper 6/2/2011 7:57:25 AM
You can hear them, if you listen with your heart ...
I have another whisper of my own to share. It's one I briefly alluded to in another blog and it involved my youngest daughter, Heather, who was five when it happened.
It was during summer vacation and my three girls and I left New Hampshire to visit family in Ohio for a week. My brother, Tim, invited us to go out on a boat with him, his wife and their four children for a day to water ski and take the kids tubing on the Scioto River in Columbus. My two older daughters were seven and nine years old at the time.
One after another, the children took their turns, first donning a bright orange life jacket, and then being lowered onto the huge inner tube for their ride behind the boat. They were taught how to grip the handles tightly and how to signal us in the boat if there was a problem. It was fun watching each of them as they took their turn behind the speeding power boat. With each turn of the boat, the child was catapulted across the waves in the wake to bounce and laugh with excitement. Tim was an excellent and cautious driver, but his wife, MaryAnn, and I were like two mother hawks watching over our fledglings out on the river.
When it was Heather's turn again, I buckled and zipped her securely once more into the bright orange life jacket. I had just lowered her over the side of the boat and onto the tube when I got one of those "whispers". This one was loud and very insistent. There was no denying it. The whisper was telling me something was wrong with the life jacket. I immediately reached over the side and pulled Heather back into the boat and wondered what to do with the information I had received. After thinking about it for a few minutes, (much to the consternation of all aboard), I told Tim I needed something strong to tie with. He looked around the boat, but found nothing. Then I noticed that MaryAnn was wearing sneakers, unlike the rest of us who were either barefoot or wearing sandals. I asked MaryAnn to give me the laces from her sneakers. She balked at first, and so did Tim, but after hearing my argument for wanting to secure the life jacket, she reluctantly gave in and turned over her shoelaces.
I zipped the zipper and buckled the life jacket back onto Heather securely. Then I took the shoelaces and doubled them. I tied one through the circular metal rings at the top of the jacket's front and the other one through the metal rings at the bottom. By now, I was taking a lot of flack from everyone, adults and children alike, for my "over-protectiveness" but I ignored them, feeling reassured. The whisper that had been so insistent a few minutes before was now gone. Again I lowered Heather over the side of the boat and onto the huge inner tube, giving her the same motherly caution I gave all of the others: "Hold the handles tight with both hands, signal if you have a problem, and have fun."
Her ride on the tube, as usual, lasted about ten minutes. Back and forth across the wake, I watched as she bounced and giggled. One more time we slowed the boat and circled around to pick up another young and weary passenger. I think I was the only one aboard who wasn't surprised when Tim pulled her up and into the boat. The life jacket zipper was completely blown apart. The only thing holding the bright orange life-saving jacket onto Heather was the shoelace tied through the rings at the top and the one tied through the rings at the very bottom ...
