stovebolts
Member
Yesterday was my wife’s company picnic and being that it was her first company picnic; we didn’t want to miss it. Now, this summer hasn’t been a ‘fun’ summer as I’ve been working way too hard, like Friday for instance when I rolled into home shortly before 10 pm. The hours at work are beginning to really drag on me. Aside from the work load, my mother in law went into the hospital two months ago and we almost lost her in ICU twice, so from an emotional standpoint, our whole family has been under a tremendous amount of stress recently not to mention that where she is currently at is about an hour and a half away, so the nights that I’m not working late, were spending at the hospital, though I’ve got to say that my wife goes almost every other day, sometimes every day depending.
So yesterday’s our day at the lake for my wife’s company picnic. They had a lot of games for the younger kids and my 8 year old had a blast. However, our teenage daughter was bored stiff… so, we broke away to the other side of the lake to where the beach was.
I had never been to Stony Creek, but it was really a very nice, well kept public lake in affluent Macomb County. I was impressed by how soft the grass, just above the sand was kept. My son Jace had brought his boggy board and was anxious to get out in the crowded lake, but honestly, I just wanted to sit and relax. It was kind of eery letting him go out of sight amongst the crowd, but there were several lifeguards so against my better judgment, I let him go by himself.
A bit later he came back and insisted that I go out in the lake with him, so… off to the changing room I go to change into my swim suit. The water was cold at first, but our daughter came out with us so it was kinda like daring one another who was going to get wet first.. well, I made the plunge and it soon turned into a splashing party until she took the plunge. It was a lot of fun, but for some odd reason, she just smiled and headed back to the comfort of her beach towel to catch some more sun.
Jace and I were playing on his boggy board and I decided to cross over the rope that divided the shallow end from the deep in so we would have more room. I wasn’t worried about taking him to the deep end because he’s a really good swimmer, I could still touch the bottom and we had his boggy board which he was a master at getting on and off of in deep water. So anyway, I’m swimming on my back with my feet under the board while he was on top of the board paddling when he said something about something on the ropes a few feet from us. I’m kinda fuzzy on it all, but I stopped and there was a boy (His name is David, and he’s 15) with his younger friend a few feet away and he said something to the effect, “Excuse me…†(he was having a hard time). “He’s been there awhile and he’s not movingâ€Â… as he pointed at what my Son had just seen.
I turned to what David was pointing at and there was a boy.. floating head down on the ropes.
I wanted so bad for these boys to be playing a cruel joke, but I could sense that it was no joke. It was scary.. and as I rolled the boy over, it confirmed what I already knew. I can’t express what I felt, like I can’t express what I’m feeling now, but I held the boy in my arms like a newborn babe. His head started to roll out of my arm as I caught it and coddled it in my arm. I just thought, this is a precious boy and my love went out to him.
I looked up in a daze, as if to come back.. it was all slow motion. And I know God was giving me the strength as I looked at the tower where the lifeguard was and yelled, “HELP†“LIFEGUARDâ€Â… “LIFEGUARDâ€Â…
As I yelled lifeguard, a shriek of the boy’s mother went out as she and her friend started running into the water speaking and crying in Indian (they were a family from India). It was so painful to have her son in my arms knowing the pain she would be going through as I too had lost a child and I would never wish that upon anyone.
I saw a female guard running out, and I looked at this precious boy once again. I don’t want to describe it, but God’s peace was there as he lay limp in my arms. It was then I was moved to go under the rope and start heading for shore.
When I met the lifeguard, she looked stunned and said, “Lay him on the boardâ€Â. Just behind her was another lifeguard with a big board and I gently set him on it and said, “Get him in, … get him in.â€Â
I wanted to give him CPR once he was on the board, but something, I believe God’s spirit was telling me to go back to my son and the boy David, who were behind me. My son, he later told me, was paddling behind me on his board trying to catch me and David was close behind too. I grabbed my boy and David and we said a prayer. I remember the David’s friend has said something in the middle of our prayer and David told him to wait. After that, our prayer ended and we went to shore.
There was a group of people gathered around the lifeguards as the mother was wailing and crying… I couldn’t go there and I needed to be by my wife. I don’t exactly remember, but me and my son made it back to our area and I just grabbed a big beach towel, covered myself and let out a good cry. Our daughter asked what had happened when my son told her. It was hard to gain my composure, but I did and came out of the towel to talk. I stood back up to look at the crowd of people that had gathered around the boy being given cpr and my heart just went out to the family. It hurt sooo bad when David came up to me very shaken and said, “I should have done something.. I should have done something…†I looked at him, gave him a big hug and told him that he had done everything right… He did everything right.
After I had set the 9 year old boy on the board, I turned and David said something in the water and I replied, “You should have… “ when I realized how wrong that was to say and abruptly shut my mouth... If I have any regrets, it would be those three words spoken to a scared 15 year old boy who had just witnessed the death of a young child. Scripture tells us how much trouble our tongues can cause… and I know those words were ringing in David’s ears as he kept saying.. “I should have done something… I should have…†Oh God, anyone reading this please say a prayer for David.
The ambulance came and the lifeguards cleared the beach as they loaded the boy on the stretcher. Just prior to that they had cleared the crowd and as I made my way to retrieve my sun glasses, I saw them giving CPR to the boy as they pressed deep into his chest trying to get a heartbeat… The mother and her friends dressed in bright green, flowing robes were sobbing… and it was all I could do…
David and I spoke and my wife finally came up. Later I found out that my wife was on the shore and was contemplating coming in to be with us and saw me pick up the boy. The mother of the child was pacing up and down the beach calling out for her lost child and later found out that earlier, the lifeguards were yelling at the kids to stop playing on the ropes. Whether this boy was one of those children or not I don’t know, but it bothered me that this boy, who is not much bigger than my own son was grasping the rope just over a boey. What I woke up this morning to, was the thought of the boy who had swam out past the first rope and realized he needed to come back. I think he made it back to the boey where he ran out of energy… and the boey wasn’t big enough to support him. This image haunts me and as I type, it’s hard to hold back what I’m feeling.
My wife stayed at the beach and was trying to comfort the mother and although there was a language barrier, I believe that there is a universal language between mothers. What amazes me is how the Indian community came around this woman (David and I later was talking to an older gentleman of her ethnic background) but what disappointed me was how my wife was the only white person there. In addition, David had called out to several adults before I responded and they just turned and went the other way.
I don’t want to end this on a sour note because I don’t know what other people are thinking. But I do know how my family is responding and we’ve all got some healing to do. Part of that healing is going to the funeral tomorrow for this little boy and it would be my prayer, that everyone who reads this to pray for the family of the boy, David and his family, my family including my 8 year old son who was a first hand, close up witness to all of this and my wonderful wife who put the needs of others before herself, the female lifeguard who held it together until it was safe for her to break down and the boy was in the ambulance, and all of the people that were there to support those in need, and will continue to be in need.
http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/0723 ... 3010.shtml
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/13732653/detail.html
So yesterday’s our day at the lake for my wife’s company picnic. They had a lot of games for the younger kids and my 8 year old had a blast. However, our teenage daughter was bored stiff… so, we broke away to the other side of the lake to where the beach was.
I had never been to Stony Creek, but it was really a very nice, well kept public lake in affluent Macomb County. I was impressed by how soft the grass, just above the sand was kept. My son Jace had brought his boggy board and was anxious to get out in the crowded lake, but honestly, I just wanted to sit and relax. It was kind of eery letting him go out of sight amongst the crowd, but there were several lifeguards so against my better judgment, I let him go by himself.
A bit later he came back and insisted that I go out in the lake with him, so… off to the changing room I go to change into my swim suit. The water was cold at first, but our daughter came out with us so it was kinda like daring one another who was going to get wet first.. well, I made the plunge and it soon turned into a splashing party until she took the plunge. It was a lot of fun, but for some odd reason, she just smiled and headed back to the comfort of her beach towel to catch some more sun.
Jace and I were playing on his boggy board and I decided to cross over the rope that divided the shallow end from the deep in so we would have more room. I wasn’t worried about taking him to the deep end because he’s a really good swimmer, I could still touch the bottom and we had his boggy board which he was a master at getting on and off of in deep water. So anyway, I’m swimming on my back with my feet under the board while he was on top of the board paddling when he said something about something on the ropes a few feet from us. I’m kinda fuzzy on it all, but I stopped and there was a boy (His name is David, and he’s 15) with his younger friend a few feet away and he said something to the effect, “Excuse me…†(he was having a hard time). “He’s been there awhile and he’s not movingâ€Â… as he pointed at what my Son had just seen.
I turned to what David was pointing at and there was a boy.. floating head down on the ropes.
I wanted so bad for these boys to be playing a cruel joke, but I could sense that it was no joke. It was scary.. and as I rolled the boy over, it confirmed what I already knew. I can’t express what I felt, like I can’t express what I’m feeling now, but I held the boy in my arms like a newborn babe. His head started to roll out of my arm as I caught it and coddled it in my arm. I just thought, this is a precious boy and my love went out to him.
I looked up in a daze, as if to come back.. it was all slow motion. And I know God was giving me the strength as I looked at the tower where the lifeguard was and yelled, “HELP†“LIFEGUARDâ€Â… “LIFEGUARDâ€Â…
As I yelled lifeguard, a shriek of the boy’s mother went out as she and her friend started running into the water speaking and crying in Indian (they were a family from India). It was so painful to have her son in my arms knowing the pain she would be going through as I too had lost a child and I would never wish that upon anyone.
I saw a female guard running out, and I looked at this precious boy once again. I don’t want to describe it, but God’s peace was there as he lay limp in my arms. It was then I was moved to go under the rope and start heading for shore.
When I met the lifeguard, she looked stunned and said, “Lay him on the boardâ€Â. Just behind her was another lifeguard with a big board and I gently set him on it and said, “Get him in, … get him in.â€Â
I wanted to give him CPR once he was on the board, but something, I believe God’s spirit was telling me to go back to my son and the boy David, who were behind me. My son, he later told me, was paddling behind me on his board trying to catch me and David was close behind too. I grabbed my boy and David and we said a prayer. I remember the David’s friend has said something in the middle of our prayer and David told him to wait. After that, our prayer ended and we went to shore.
There was a group of people gathered around the lifeguards as the mother was wailing and crying… I couldn’t go there and I needed to be by my wife. I don’t exactly remember, but me and my son made it back to our area and I just grabbed a big beach towel, covered myself and let out a good cry. Our daughter asked what had happened when my son told her. It was hard to gain my composure, but I did and came out of the towel to talk. I stood back up to look at the crowd of people that had gathered around the boy being given cpr and my heart just went out to the family. It hurt sooo bad when David came up to me very shaken and said, “I should have done something.. I should have done something…†I looked at him, gave him a big hug and told him that he had done everything right… He did everything right.
After I had set the 9 year old boy on the board, I turned and David said something in the water and I replied, “You should have… “ when I realized how wrong that was to say and abruptly shut my mouth... If I have any regrets, it would be those three words spoken to a scared 15 year old boy who had just witnessed the death of a young child. Scripture tells us how much trouble our tongues can cause… and I know those words were ringing in David’s ears as he kept saying.. “I should have done something… I should have…†Oh God, anyone reading this please say a prayer for David.
The ambulance came and the lifeguards cleared the beach as they loaded the boy on the stretcher. Just prior to that they had cleared the crowd and as I made my way to retrieve my sun glasses, I saw them giving CPR to the boy as they pressed deep into his chest trying to get a heartbeat… The mother and her friends dressed in bright green, flowing robes were sobbing… and it was all I could do…
David and I spoke and my wife finally came up. Later I found out that my wife was on the shore and was contemplating coming in to be with us and saw me pick up the boy. The mother of the child was pacing up and down the beach calling out for her lost child and later found out that earlier, the lifeguards were yelling at the kids to stop playing on the ropes. Whether this boy was one of those children or not I don’t know, but it bothered me that this boy, who is not much bigger than my own son was grasping the rope just over a boey. What I woke up this morning to, was the thought of the boy who had swam out past the first rope and realized he needed to come back. I think he made it back to the boey where he ran out of energy… and the boey wasn’t big enough to support him. This image haunts me and as I type, it’s hard to hold back what I’m feeling.
My wife stayed at the beach and was trying to comfort the mother and although there was a language barrier, I believe that there is a universal language between mothers. What amazes me is how the Indian community came around this woman (David and I later was talking to an older gentleman of her ethnic background) but what disappointed me was how my wife was the only white person there. In addition, David had called out to several adults before I responded and they just turned and went the other way.
I don’t want to end this on a sour note because I don’t know what other people are thinking. But I do know how my family is responding and we’ve all got some healing to do. Part of that healing is going to the funeral tomorrow for this little boy and it would be my prayer, that everyone who reads this to pray for the family of the boy, David and his family, my family including my 8 year old son who was a first hand, close up witness to all of this and my wonderful wife who put the needs of others before herself, the female lifeguard who held it together until it was safe for her to break down and the boy was in the ambulance, and all of the people that were there to support those in need, and will continue to be in need.
http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/0723 ... 3010.shtml
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/13732653/detail.html
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