Tuesday, July 5, 2005

Movie emergencies vs. Real Life emergencies

Yesterday we had a real life emergency. Our youngest child & only daughter jumped in our friends pool sans floaties. (You can read about it
here.)

I thought it was interesting the difference between what this mini-emergency would have looked like if it were on a movie screen & what it REALLY looked like.

See IF it had been in a movie I think it would have looked like this:


The setting: a nice family vacation, camping next to a mean looking roaring rapids. Sweet musical accompaniement.
The scenario: cute toddler chases a butterfly......slips off the edge of the bank into the roaring rapids. Music begins to get fast paced.
Mother notices DD missing & pursues a frantic search for her when she notices her rushign down the roaring rapids towards a waterfall.

Mother screams: OMG! MY DAUGHTER! Somebody save her!
Dog: jumps in after the dd.
Father: goes to the edge of a cliff overlooking the falls below. Immediately takes off his hiking boots, one by one, tosses off his shirt to reveal an incredibly tight body & dives effortlessly into the dangerous waters below.
DD: goes under, pops up, goes under, pops up, goes under, pops up gasping for breathe, but manages to cry: save me mommy! More frantic paced music.
Dog: reaches toddler & w/ his mouth grabs the back of her hoodie.
Father: reaches toddler but w/ the rushing water cannot get a good grip on the family dog.

Next scene: the family rushes to the side of the river, where the water is extremely shallow & calm, surrounded by rocks as dad lays there looking unconscious w/ dd next to him.
Mother starts crying & suddenly father & dd awake, safe & sound, w/ a touch of bitter-sweetness as they realize their dog 'didn't make it'. Sweet sad music.
The family all cheers for dad being a Hero!
******************
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Now see IRL: things are much different.

First, there is NEVER any musical accompaniment.
It all happens in freaky fractions of a second. There is NO time to remove shoes, clothes or swan dive.
You're in a friends back yard, mom (me) sees dd going under & yells her name.
Fully dressed in the norm of flip-flops, jeans & a t-shirt, I sprint the 10 feet (which is about 3 steps) to the side of the jacuzzi, step in (flip-flops & all) & pull her up & out.
It all happens too fast for anyone to know what the heck has transpired UNTIL it is all over & dd is safe & sound.

Dad & the guys never even got out of their comfy seats around the table. They didn't even skip a bite of their meal.

There's no 'drama' & if I hadn't told anyone what had just happened, most would not have even known.

There was no time to even THINK about anything. I was in {what I call} auto-pilot mode. There was no fan-fare or hails of being a 'hero'.

H says later, "yah I think KT has proven that she IS the one to react the quickest & handle emergencies the calmest between the 2 of us." (we still joke about the fire we had in the living room, H stood there repeating, "what do I do?", while I ran to grab some baking soda & quickly doused the candle-induced flames! Then there was the time youngest son fell & busted his forhead open & H lost it when he realized they were both covered in blood, nothing a little non-toxic super glue couldn't mend. LOL)

Where's the camera guy, great lighting & mood music when you need him?

If truth be told: I do seem to do well under extreme circumstances but it truly is due to Auto Pilot Mode (GOD), when the emergency is OVER, I am reduced to being a blubbering pile of sobbing 'what-if's'!

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous7:52 PM

    Oh what a horrifying experience! It is true that we often have the stamina to go through the trial then reduce to emotion just after. I pray that God blesses you and your little one richly as you help each other remember what's important...and thanks for reminding me again to keep it in check!!

    :-) Susan

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