From the very first swim lesson my parents signed me up for, I knew I wanted to be a lifeguard. I was in love with swimming and wanted to have a job where I would be capable of saving someone. After many summers of lessons and swim meets, I finally got the job and loved it. However, I knew my abilities lacked in comparison to the other lifeguards. Being just 5'2 made things significantly more difficult. The other guards were larger and stronger. I put in extra hours to try to match up, but no matter how much practice I put into it I couldn't seem to prove myself as equal.
On the busiest day at our pool, we ended up with over 300 guests swimming. I was sitting on chair when I saw a shadow at the bottom of the water. My heart started to pound and I counted to three, but when the shadow didn’t surface I knew something wasn’t right. I stood up, blew my whistle, and put my foot out to jump off the chair. Something in the process went wrong, and the next thing I knew I was falling face-first into the pavement off the 5 foot tall chair. Everything in my body started to hurt, but I lifted myself off the ground and ran into the water. I dove down to the shadow and performed the rescue I had practiced so many times, only to realize that it was the mannequin we used for testing. As I dragged the dummy out of the water, all I could feel was embarrassment. I had just face-planted in front of hundreds of people. I could picture parents calling their children out of the pool, worrying that they were in the wrong hands after my less-than-successful demonstration. I ran into the guard room bleeding, crying, and feeling absolutely mortified.
A week later, I was still embarrassed and trying to forget the incident. I’d left the ER with my legs bandaged from my ankles to my thighs, a visual reminder of my fall. When I came back to work, one of my co-workers ran up to me with an article from a local newspaper in their hand, telling me to read it. The title read, “Hero In the Making”. As I read, the knot in my stomach started to lift. The author of the article recounted my incident but instead of focusing on the fall, he talked of my rescue, writing, “I am glad there is a young woman like this watching over my children. She showed an amazing degree of strength and determination.” My view of the situation was entirely changed. Instead of feeling embarrassed, I felt proud.
The title, “Hero In The Making” could not be more appropriate. Even today, I am still in the making and on my way to becoming better. I need to be given chances to improve, grow up and I need to be able to make mistakes. No matter the situation, I know I can always improve, even when I’ve struggled. The scars on my legs aren’t from the time I face-planted off a chair. These scars are from a time I showed strength, determination and proved what I am capable of. I’m going to wear these scars with pride.
