The Lifeguard Plan

My general theory is that when you come up with a plan, no matter how challenging or far fetched, if you don't have a back-up plan, you leave yourself with no other option than to figure it out and make it work. So I will admit that I have a tendency to get an idea, proclaim its brilliance and then dive in head first without looking down, and without hesitation.

It is with this strategy that I have found myself across the globe in remote foreign countries, a homeowner, the clueless master of $3000 bulldog, an executive director, and many other things that I am pleased to say are wonderful parts of my life. I have found success in my strategy, and yet, there is always a point in every plan when frustrated, I throw my hands in the air, cry, shake my head and/or imagine/actually do lay down in the fetal position and think, "next time I have a brilliant plan, I promise promise PROMISE myself, I will think it through and work out the details first."

Maybe next time I will follow that promise.

The lifeguard plan is so brilliant, really, truly one of my best ideas yet. A few years ago, I went through Red Cross training to become a CPR/First Aid instructor so that I could train my summer staff. It's a HUGE pain and also really expensive to find an instructor to come out to camp, and trying to get them certified individually is even worse. So being able to have complete control over training them made my life so easy. Wouldn't that also be true for lifeguards???

Every year, we pay $250-300 per staff that is willing to get trained (usually 4-5 people). It is always a scheduling nightmare to find trainings to send them to that fit into their schedule, are near their school or home, that are completed before camp, and it is expensive. Additionally, it's a short term investment because there is no guarantee that they will return to camp the next year, hence, every year we have to go through the same stressful process. So my logic was that I should become a lifeguard trainer, cutting out the scheduling nightmare and the expense. Brilliant.

Except that I'm not a lifeguard. I can swim, but not well and actually, I don't really like the water that much. But my love of convenience and saving money won out over my distaste for the water and so last week, Monday-Friday, I spent the week in lifeguard class.

In preparation for the class, I spent a few days a week at the pool, but that was in the fall. In order to take the class you have to be able to swim 300 yards. I hadn't been swimming in several months when I went last Sunday. I think I made it about 60 yards when I gave up and went home, defeated, ready to postpone the class. Unfortunately, that was the only time in my schedule it worked, and without a back-up plan, there was no other option.

So I showed up Monday morning, more nervous than I have been for as long as I can remember. In college, I had to take a swim test for my scuba diving class. The instructor was a former Navy Seal who told us we were not to stop swimming unless he was dragging us out of the water. Adrenaline and fear allowed me to pass that test and that was one of my proudest moments in college. I thought about my college instructor as I swam on Monday. There might have been a few moments of dog-paddle/exhausted-just-stay moving flopping, but I made it through. And yes, I was incredibly proud, probably more than I should have been.

It was a long week. Running 3 miles a day keeps me in size 4 pants, but it turns out that it doesn't mean I'm in shape. Swimming is exhausting and my entire body, eyelids to toes was sore. Swimming to the bottom to perform rescues is scary, actually, every time I had to do something with my eyes open under water, I got a little nervous. But by the end of the week, I was 100% more comfortable, confident in my new skills and I actually started to have fun with it. I passed the test with ease on Friday and I am very proud of my new status as a certified lifeguard.

However, there is more to this plan.

• Because now I have to take another class- lifeguard instructor- and I have to be able to swim 550 yards for that class. I'm pretty sure I am going to need some private swim lessons prior to being able to do that.
• I can't find a class that fits into my schedule between now and May, although the Red Cross assures me more will open up.
• Assuming I pass that class, I also need to find a pool near camp to rent. When I first imagined this plan, I was thinking, "they guard in a lake, they can take the class in a lake" which is true. However, the lake water in May is still so cold that my dad wears a wetsuit for the 20 minutes it takes to put the docks in, so training in the water several hours a day isn't going to work out.

Assuming all of those things get worked out, I still have to actually conduct a class and train my staff. Which means that camper safety is 100% my responsibility. Not only is it my camp and I supervise the staff, I will also be the one responsible for training them in the first place. The responsibility of all of that is a bit overwhelming to me. There is nothing more important or scarier than water safety at a camp.

I still think it is a brilliant plan. I just wish I would have realized the magnitude of what I decided to take on. Typical of me, and yet, still surprising that I get myself into these situations.