Bonnie and Grant went down to Cocoa Beach last week to visit with her sister and her family. They really wanted me to come down for the weekend. I was thinking they had to check out on Saturday, and the thought of a three hour drive Friday after work, or early Saturday morning, just to spend a few hours was not fun. The price of gas, falling though it may be, did not add to the prospect. As of Friday night I had tenatively declined, opting to concentrate on polishing up my resume in anticipation of doing a little job hunting. More of that another day, but by Saturday morning I was feeling in a better place, and decided to go, especially after I learned they had the condo through Sunday. I also had learned that my niece Alex and her husband David were camping near Cocoa, and there was the chance of a breakfast or lunch meeting with them. This didn’t work out because Bonnie’s sister has a dinner planned with friends already. We went that route, since prior to dinner Grant would have a couple hours to play in the Ron Jon Resort water park. They have a cool little pool for kids, with all sorts of water features, and they have the “Lazy River”, where kids of all ages can tube in an artificial concrete river with a fairly swift current. The two areas are adjacent, separated in some spots by a rope mesh, in others by two thin ropes. During one moment in the pool, Grant bolted away and headed for the river, which we had already tubed. I hustled after him, calling him to stop, and watched as he grabbed the rope and slipped feet first into the water.
At that point the water was about three feet deep, over his head, and the current swept his feet from under him. He went under. I could see the surprised expression on his face through the clear water, then a flash of panic. This fat old fifty year old moved fast and slipped through the ropes into the river, and a woman passing on a tube saw what happened, reached over, and grabbed his arm. She held him for a second or two while I got to him. He coughed a bit, spat and snorted water, but didn’t get too upset. It all happened quickly. In this scenario there was no real danger, still, the adrenaline kicked in and I reacted. Although I needed no reminding, it was still sobering to see how quickly a pig-headed two year old can get his butt in a crack.