This post is my entry into the Supernatural Writing Contest organised by
MY NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE - TWICE...
On my 10th birthday, 37 years ago, I went to our local swimming pool with some friends, it was the school summer holidays so there were plenty of people splashing around having a great time. I could swim but knew my limits, I always stayed down the shallow end because I wasn't confident enough to go out of my depth. When our time was up in the pool, I got out and headed towards the changing rooms, they were at the other end of the pool so I had to walk the full length of the pool to reach them.
I wasn't far from the changing rooms when this big fat kid, who was about 16yrs old started pushing kids into the pool, I was a timid kid and tried to avoid him but he got me, up in the air I went and into the deep end I landed!! I think I must have started panicking before I hit the water because I remember screaming, all I can remember to this day is trying to tread water, realising I couldn't, I tried to touch the floor. I remember trying to swim but couldn't because the current was dragging me under, I remember seeing a lot of legs flailing in the water and hearing a lot of noise, maybe the kid was still pushing people in!!!
I remember trying to grab legs to pull me up to the surface, instead I was pulling them under, then everything seemed calm, I remember everything being silent, then a lady swimming towards me and scooping me into her arms, she had really long black hair and a warm smile. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital, mum and dad next to my bed, telling me how lucky I'd been. They had given me CPR apparently, I don't remember being pulled out of the pool to this day. I was terrified of the water from that day on and never went swimming again as a child.
Fast forward 10 years and I had never been swimming since that day, I was now 20yrs old and had been invited to a 21st birthday weekend in Skegness, party, party, party, yes we did plenty of that! There were about 12 of us, it was a hot day so we headed off to the beach. A few of them went into the sea with a ball, I declined, I had never told them what had happened to me 10 years before, before long they were all in the sea playing with the ball. I did feel left out to be honest and I didn't want them laughing at me, I noticed that the water only came up to their waists so what the hell, time to conquer my fear, the bravery mixed with the stupidity of being a 20 year old far outweighed wanting to be laughed at for the next few years. I made my way towards the water to a cheer from my friends! I was actually enjoying throwing the ball around with my friends, that day 10 years before didn't even enter my mind until my friend threw the ball a bit too far out!!
I was the nearest to go and fetch it so I walked towards the ball, my feet still firmly on the sea bed, the water hovering around by my waistline, OK I can do this I thought to myself, one more step and I was under, it was like I had just stepped off a cliff, I can remember swallowing a mouth full of salty water and who knows what else, the fear set in, I couldn't feel a floor under me or see the surface, it was just murky water, I was stronger because I was older but the current was still dragging me under, again everything went calm and this woman just scooped me up, the next thing I remember is bobbing up to the surface, taking a big gasp of air, water squirting out of my mouth and my friends laughing at me!!!
I got out of the water, my friends still ribbing me, I asked them where the woman was who had helped me, I wanted to thank her, my friends looked puzzled, they hadn't seen a woman, in fact they said that nobody had been in the water where I had gone under. We went back to the hotel to get ready for a night on the town, I couldn't stop thinking about the woman who had scooped me up that afternoon and at that point never thought in a million years that the near death experience 10 years before, could be linked but it did get me thinking. The woman from that afternoon had really long black hair and was very tiny, I remember her warm smile.
That night we all went out on the town, the ribbing got worse with every beer we drank, so with the booze goggles on I decided to tell them about my near death experience when I was 10, NO, it wasn't the right time to tell them but we all do daft things when we're drunk!! The next morning at breakfast one of the guys vaguely recollected me telling them a story so I told it to them again, they convinced me that I was remembering things that didn't actually happen, and maybe I was just traumatised by the two events. We went home and I forgot all about it and got on with my life.
Seventeen years later in 2007 my dad sadly passed away, he was cremated in the UK but we took his remains back to Ireland to be interred with his mum. While over in Ireland I caught up with family I hadn't seen for years, some of them had come from as far as Canada so it was great to catch up. An older cousin of mine was interested in Genealogy and had started to compile our family tree, I went to his house to take a look, the tree consisted of names going back to 1825, obviously I hadn't heard of most of them, in fact I didn't really know any family prior to my dads generation, his parents, my grandparents, had died years before I was born. It was an interesting read though.
Reality had now hit, my dad was dead, it was now time to sort his house and personal belongings out. He was a bit of a hoarder so help was needed, my friend came over, we cracked open a beer and started sorting out his stuff, clothes to the charity shops, his jewellery in a box, which would be offered to any family that wanted it, a shotgun in the back of the wardrobe, I quickly rang his best mate to get rid of it because I didn't want my kids around it, no clue as to why he owned a shotgun!! After the first day we had barely made a dent so my friend offered to come back the next day, I stayed over at dads house, put the TV on and cracked open another beer. Under the table at the side of his chair I noticed an old biscuit tin, I opened it and it was full of photographs. I saw photographs of me and my sister when we little and some other family members I recognised. I was flicking through the photo's, most of which were black and white, dad had written names on the back of most of them, I came to a grainy photo of a man and woman sitting on a horse and cart, I instantly recognised the warm smile from the pool and the sea, I turned the photo over, dad had written mammy and daddy on the back, I needed another beer!!!
I continued to go through the photo's, another interesting one was of a young boy, on the back of the photo dad had written Paddy taken 2 weeks before he died, then another beautiful photo, which dad had written, mammy in 1941. Her smile, her long hair, her slim body, the photo was taken when she was 26 in her swimming costume. She was definitely the woman who had scooped me up when I was in trouble and saved me from death.
I rang my cousin the next morning to ask a few questions, he had a lot of information about our family through his genealogy. I told him the story about my two near death experiences and why I knew it was granny that saved me, I also asked him who Paddy was - he told me that Paddy was my dads brother, Granny's son, who had drowned when he was 11 years old. Granny loved to swim and back in 1944 she had taken her kids, my dad included to the seaside as a treat, Paddy had gone out of his depth and got into trouble, she had tried to save him but couldn't reach him in time. As you can imagine, it devastated her and she never got over it.
The nail in the coffin, so to speak, came when I made up the numbers to have my cards read 7yrs ago, I'm usually the sceptical type but was happy to make the numbers up so it would be cheaper for my friends. During that reading she told me that a woman was always by my side, she described her perfectly, a tiny woman (she was 4ft 9) really long black hair and a warm smile, she also said she had saved me more than once from certain death!!
I know it was granny who saved me twice, her smile, unusually long black hair, and two separate near death experiences 10 years apart, have convinced me it wasn't a coincidence.