Florida in the Winter

The first year that I lived in Florida I make sure that I went swimming on all those days that you couldn't growing up in West Virginia. Days like Christmas and New Years and maybe February 3rd. just because it was February 3rd. and I could. It didn't matter how cold it was - usually not very! In fact living in West Palm during the winter is like living in West Virginia in May.

You wouldn't believe how many people send their kids to the pool without supervision. Bobby and I saved a total of 3 kids while we lived at one place with a pool. One little girl in particular was not even 2 years old. I just happenned to be getting out of the pool (walking up the steps) when I looked down and saw her floating face up about 2 inches under water. She was so little that she didn't even know she was drowning. She was just floating there looking up. I got her out of the pool and started working on her (she was gasping for air) when her mother started hollering at her from the other end of the pool with her friends to leave me alone an get down there. I had to inform her that her daughter had almost drowned and that she needed to come to us.

Another time I was lying in the sun and I wasn't even aware that anybody had even gotten in the pool. I heard a gurgle. Then I heard another gurgleing sound. When I heard the 3rd. gurgle I realized that somebody was drowning and I dove in and pulled a girl out who was around 10 years old in the deep end. She was drowning!

One time I went to the beach and I found a work boot that had floated on shore while I was there. It had the toe bitten out of it! There were alot of boat people floating in from Cuba at that time. I left because I figured that a shark had eaten somebody and I didn't want to see what else floated up.

The funniest thing that ever happenned at the beach was my 12 year old nephew had come down from West Virginia and we took him to the beach for the first time. He was so scared that he wouldn't even let the foam from the waves touch his toes. Anyway a fat old man wearing a thong walked by and believe me he had no business wearing such a thing! Dwayne laid down in the sand laughing so hard he was hysterical and pointing at the man. I desperately tried to no avail to stop him from such a public display of mirth because I was afraid the man would hurt us (even though he deserved the laughter). Anyway the man walked past us at first but then he turned around and started back toward us. It was obvious that he was pissed! I desperately tried to shut Dwayne up (the child had never seen anything like it). I was gratedful when the man got about 15 feet from us and I guess he had to see how desperately I was trying to control the situation because he turned around! I was relieved beyond words.