I'm a Life Guard now.

"I'm a Life Guard now," I said to myself after finishing both the written and pool section of the tests. Unlike my high school compatriots who took the class with me and still have to deal with the demands of a school day, I had all day to study and for several days I did. There is a lot to learn about this field, not only in terms of dealing with pool emergencies, but also with all the health issues that you might come into contact with. One of my friends who had done this in his youth described Life Guarding as "hours of boredom, punctuated by seconds of terror!" And, "seconds of terror" is a good explanation of what you experience when your skills are needed in a life saving situation. That is why the training is intensive and why even after you receive your certificate you continue to train so that things can come automatic in those situations.

I have been joking with my friends, especially the bigger guys, that if I see them in the bottom of the pool I will carefully access the situation, and laughingly note that I would let the next shift take care of it. For my part, I hope that I never have to use a single emergency procedure that I have learned because that would mean someone would be in trouble or hurt and I don't want that. It is a nice feeling however to have gained the knowledge that I have from the wonderful instruction we received. In many ways it is like a life insurance policy. You don't really want to have it to cash in, but it provides security for others and I'm good with that.