I lost my balance the instant I turned my head to look back, with my mind yearning the past. My legs slipped off the rescue board and into the thick, weedy Lake Wingra. In a perfect Newtonian physics demonstration, the board slid off in the opposite direction with surprising velocity.
I was so far from shore that my lifeguard colleague could not see or even hear my distress. My legs felt bound together as if by ropes. In defiance of my imagined headline, “Lifeguard Drowns On The Clock While Misusing Rescue Equipment,” I struggled free and united with the paddle and the board. Once back upright, I kept my mind and boy steady for the full distance to Vilas Beach.
I often think of this adventure as a lesson:
Look back in anguish, and fall
Think forward, move forward