By Alderman Pat Dowell, May 12, 2015 — When I was 11 years old, my parents sent me to a CYO day camp. I enjoyed all the activities, especially swimming. The camp counselors divided the campers into red caps, blue caps, and white caps. Red caps were for the non-swimmers, those kids who liked to pretend they could swim by splashing around in the water. The blue cap kids were better swimmers but by no means experts. The white cap kids were truly swimmers who had access to two diving boards, a water slide, and water toys. The water in the white cap pool was over 12 feet deep, and those campers appeared to have all the fun.
I was tall for my age, probably 5’10” and skinny as a rail. You can bet that I was bored with my red cap. The water barely reached my waist and there weren’t many toys to play with. One day, I found a white cap in the locker room and boldly put it on my head.
My heart was beating fast as I climbed the steps to the tallest diving board. I knew better, but I was sure I could handle the water below me. I looked up, closed my eyes, and jumped.
I hit the water and felt my feet touch the bottom! I panicked, realized I was underwater, couldn’t swim, and was far from the top of the water.
I almost drowned that day, but thanks to an alert life guard, I was saved. To this day, I fear water.