PART 2 When the St. Louis Praxair plant blew up in 2005, Puerto Ricans watched it on TV.  One on-air comment was that the explosive event had made “international” news.  But a few years later, the decision and commitment by Puerto Rico to undertake one of the most ambitious multi-faceted drowning prevention campaigns didn’t attract [...]

PART 1 As all lifeguards know, and many witnesses discover, most drowning people do not shout for help.  But in 2007, that’s exactly what happened when the tiny island territory of Puerto Rico called out to the United States Lifesaving Association, “Help us!  Our people are dying.” Puerto Rico, with few lifeguards to cover 130 [...]

My mother is amazing.  Among her many great qualities is a sense of adventure and a constant openness to learning new things.  She is afraid of nothing.  And even if she has some initial hesitation, she can usually be persuaded to try.  She’s always game. After some 20+ years of participating in water fitness for [...]

A few years ago, I earned a medal in the Chicago Marathon.  It wasn’t the regular finisher medal.  Mine is engraved with my name and the words “#1 Marathon Tracker”.  You see, I’m not a runner.  But I could go pro as a fan. In fact, if you’re planning to run a 10-minute pace in [...]

I wish I had paid more attention during that class trip to the Post Office in the third grade.  Many of us take mail delivery for granted.  It shows up every day, and we don’t question or care about the process by which it gets there, or how the items we leave for the postal [...]

Yesterday Backyard Lifeguards had its first official engagement.  At first I tried to play it off like we were oh-so-busy and established, but I was so excited I couldn’t contain myself, and I told the hosts that they were our first customers.  They were just as thrilled to be a part of it, and we [...]

Last night, for the third time in my ten-year marriage, I rushed my husband to the ER.  He gashed his hand while doing the dishes (yes, really), and called me out of a restaurant to come get him.  I had just finished a pre-season training for eight Summer 2010 Backyard Lifeguards (all fabulous, by the [...]

My friend Ruthie told me a long time ago that I should blog about topics in swimming and lifesaving.  I don’t really know what to write about.  I can’t imagine people want to read about the things I find interesting.  We professional lifeguards are a very small group.  If the job were all that thrilling [...]