Rules are rules . . . best to learn that early . . . if we had none, chaos would ensue!
Do people bend them? Sure. Break them? Yep. Should you challenge them? You might want to weigh the consequences!
When your mom and Auntie E were in my Girl Scout troop, we did lots of fun stuff: hiking, camping, social activities, community support activities . . . stayed pretty busy. One year the girls decided we should make a trip to Savannah, Ga. Girl Scouts was actually born in Savannah, Ga . . . Juliette Gordon Low started the first troop in 1912 . . . based on the Girl Guides she'd joined in Scotland and work she'd done with Sir Baden-Powell who founded the Boy Scouts.
Her home is in Savannah . . . a destination visited by Girl Scouts from around the world.
Obviously her home was on our radar, but Savannah has so much cool stuff that we wanted to see more of it. Since my dad was from there, I'd been many times and made some suggestions to the girls. They decided we'd stay on Tybee Island . . . in a beach house . . . two blocks from the water . . . the girls would NOT even be getting into the water (the moms decided not to allow swimming, which was fine by me)
Because the rules of Scouting are so strict, to get approval from council to leave the local area, you really have to jump through hoops. Tybee Island beaches have no lifeguards, so I'd have to hire a lifeguard while we were on the beach . . . in spite of the fact there would be no swimming allowed . . . you know, in the event that one of the girls fell into the water FROM THE BEACH
. . . that would be expensive . . .
. . . or, I could become a lifeguard myself!!
I looked into the course. Through the Girl Scouts and the Red Cross, the course would only cost about $150. I talked to the parents and gave them the options . . . even offering to send one of them to become a lifeguard at the troop's expense. With 12 or so parents involved, the cost per parent would be about $10 (I figured I could get the moms to share in the expense since it would benefit all of the girls). Of course, nobody else wanted to do it, and they all gave their approval for me to do it.
If only I had known what I was getting myself into!!
Because we were going to a beach, I couldn't just take the "regular" lifeguard course . . . I had to include "Open Water" training!!
The class started at 7am! We used the pool at Camp Tanasi . . . a 45 minute drive from my house . . . on a GOOD day!
- First event: a mile run (wait until you're 40)
- Second event: timed short sprints
- Third event: a grueling swim of 300 yards using the crawl for 100, breaststroke for 100 and then sidestroke for 100
- Fourth event: tread water for at least 10 minutes
- Thank God for lunch!!
- Fifth event: swim the length of the pool, dive 8 or 10 feet (however damn deep it was) and retrieve a 10 lb weight . . . NO using the steps . . . had to pull yourself and weight out of the pool
- Sixth event: rescue a full grown man who was flailing . . . pretending he was drowning (our instructor brought her college age son to help in this event . . . he was at least 6 feet tall . . . probably weighed 180 lbs)
- Seventh event: practice scanning techniques . . . you had to turn around while she threw a "body" into the water . . . gave you like 30 seconds to spot it after you turned around . . . stop judging . . . it's not as easy as it sounds!
- Eighth event: CPR and First Aid review . . . with each other and dummies
- Ninth event: another grueling swim of 100 yards pulling an object behind you that weighed about 25 lbs
I suppose I should be thankful we didn't have to do some of the things an Open Water (like a beach or lake rescuer might have to do) . . . we didn't have to paddle a kayak or try to swim against the tide . . . we didn't have to operate an ATV or review what to do in the event of a shark attack.
So, I passed. I left that evening with my lifeguard certificate in hand and would get my official card in the mail just before our trip south.
We spent about a week in Savannah. I told the girls that I would be up before sunrise each morning to go to the beach (sunrise on the East Coast beaches is one of my favorite things) if they wanted to join me. Cool things (I suppose that depends on your perspective) happen on the beach at night . . . sand dollars wash up on shore, jellyfish get stranded on the beach, horseshoe crabs are detained by night foraging animals in hopes they are tasty (they are not) . . . you just never know what you'll find in those early dawn hours!
I didn't think any of the girls would join me since it meant rising at 5am to walk the two blocks necessary to reach the water. Nearly ALL of them said they wanted to sleep in! I think 3 or 4 of them mentioned getting up, but they made no promises!
I was wrong . . .
. . . the first morning about half the girls went with me . . .
. . . the second morning they ALL went with me!
I still have the two fully intact horseshoe crabs I found one of those days. We brought back hundreds of shells that had washed up on the beach . . . along with several dozen sand dollars.
You want a great summer job? Become a lifeguard!! Yeah, it's tough work, but think about it . . . you really don't have to work THAT hard . . . you can work on your tan all summer long . . . it's a pretty good paying job . . . the skills are incredibly useful . . .
And go see the sunrise on an East Coast beach . . . watch the sunset on a West Coast beach! I promise, it will be worth the trouble!
"The capacity to learn is a gift. The ability to learn is a skill. The willingness to learn is a choice." ~ Brian Herbert
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