The Last Swim

The Last Swim

By: Susan McKenzie

The golden sun had sunk deeply into the pink horizon, casting a shimmering glow on the rippled mineral pool. A family with three children played joyfully in the cooler end of the hot healing waters, taking turns riding on their daddy's shoulders.

I settled into my perch on the stairs dividing the two pools breathing in the misty vapors, listening to the soft splash of the water as the towering fountain sprayed continuously fresh water ino the pool…. almost 1.4 million gallons a day! I spotted a couple entering the pool area, looking to be in their late forties. With her long blonde hair in a graceful french twist, the woman swept off her plush robe and delicately slipped into the warm healing waters. She seemed very thin and fragile, yet elegant. Her husband sat down at the far end of the pool and began to leisurely undress. It was the first day of their vacation and there was no hurry.

It was a pleasure to watch the woman swim gracefully across the pool, each stroke a vision of peaceful pleasure. In the peace of the waning day none of us knew this would be the last swim of her life. I turned around on the steps, grinning as two children giggled uproarishly as their daddy powerfully swept them both up in his arms at the same time. Beside them two middle-aged sisters approached and climbed the steps. One of them called with excitement, "Look at the turtles!"

With an eager sense of anticipation we all gazed at two dark round shapes in the water nearly ten feet away. The husband from the far corner began to swim strongly toward the dark shapes and I watched his face twist in horror as he grabbed the form out of the water and in shock I realized it was the woman's shoulders as her body floated face-down beneath the surface of the water. She had been peacefully swimming just a minute ago!

It seemed to take my body a long time to stand up and step across the narrow cement divider. I reached the woman just as her husband laid her limp body on the cement. It seemed like we were all moving in slow motion and finally someone yelled, "Call 911!" The two middle-aged women turned out to be nurses and while the husband initiated CPR the nurses checked her vital signs. I just prayed.

At last, giving up breathing into his wife's mouth, the husband desperately cried out for someone to help, for someone to pray. Powerlessly he stood up as a pool staff person commenced chest compressions. Alternating between despair and hope, the man refused to give up hope. "Come back into your body, baby! You've got grandkids… you're not done yet!"

I slipped off to a nearby golf cart to keep the staff member's 2-year old occupied so he wouldn't get lost or confused with all the activities at the poolside. The ambulance arrived and everything that could be done was done, but still the woman could not be revived. Vital statistics were shouted out… age 48, 96 pounds, history of heart and kidney diseases and back problems… Later we were to discover that it's much easier to revive a drowning victim in cold water than it is in hot water.

Bowing down and hunching over a bench, the husband kept crying out for someone to please bring his wife back… it wasn't her time… or was it?

Glancing up from the golf cart I met the eyes of another man who seemed every bit as distraught as the husband. Everyone has a story and we perceive the events around us through the filters of our own life story. This man had been receiving experimental cancer treatments as part of a test group of patients. Seven out of twelve patients had died and he, himself, was awaiting test results and was afraid his cancer was back. Witnessing another victim of death was almost too much and he disappeared to go sit on the railroad tracks. Too much pain and suffering in one lifetime can cause a person to give up hope.

We all had heavy hearts that day… until I learned more of the woman's story. She had been suffering tremendously for several years, in and out of hospitals. A life of constant pain and agony. Just that morning she had been to the hospital to receive a spinal injection to help abate the pain. The warm mineral waters, she said, felt healing to her weary body… those were her last words.

Maybe it really was her time… some people can only take so much pain. She died in the arms of the one who loved her the most. And he, in turn, received comfort from a friend who happened to be at his side at the very time comfort was needed.

Her last earthly sensation was not the stab of a needle in a cold hospital or the anesthetic smell of a surgical room… but it was the touch of healing waters on her hurting body in the company of friends at a place she and her husband had grown to love as their favorite vacation spot.

Knowing a little of her story, I feel certain this woman is still very present with her husband, children, and grandchildren and eagerly awaiting the best Homecoming of all… when all of them will one day be together again. Perhaps the best part of her story is the Love she experienced here on earth, to be loved by a husband so devoted to her.

When it's time to go, the greatest gift we can give or receive is the love we have for our family and friends. I know I want to love more, to give more and to receive more love. One way is to share our story and have it published in a small (or long) book… with pictures, stories, and other memorabilia. Your presence will continue to be felt and your legacy will be carefully preserved for the next generation.

There is no story like your story. Whether you are age 48, 68, or 88 it's never too late or too early to begin writing your life story. Let's do it together… let's make it a fun game, one that won't take too much of your time. You don't even need to know how to write, it's that simple!

If not your story, how about your parents…. or grandparents… no one need die with their story unpublished. Today you can publish your life story for as little as $12 and the gift itself is priceless!

Act today and you'll have me to help you get your project finished in just one month! Yes, it's true! We're not talking about a novel-length book here… in as little as 20 pages you can preserve a lasting legacy! And I'm here to make sure it goes in just the way you like it!

Will you do your family a favor? Take action today. You don't know when your 'last swim' or 'last drive' or 'last meal' will arrive. None of us are guaranteed a tomorrow.

We'll do this together, okay? It's going to be a game, actually… a Life Story Game. It's not going to cost an arm and a leg like everywhere else. In fact, your book can be delivered for less than the price of ten cups of coffee!

Click here to receive INSTANT ACCESS to the Life Story Game!!!

I can't wait to see your face when your very own Life Story Book arrives in the mail!

Oh, and just so you know this story has a GREAT ending… at the motel where I work the husband called yesterday morning aking if we still have church services at the pool on Sunday mornings and I said "Yes, at 9 am!" When he arrived you could see the peace of God all over his face.

And the man who was despairing of his own life, surrounded by death on all sides? He's smiling from ear to ear, too…. you see, love never fails. That's the central theme of my own life story… and anytime you enter into someone else's life story, your own central theme is going to impact the lives of others.

What is the central theme of your life story, as you know it today? I'd love to hear… please leave a comment in the box below… I can't wait to hear from you!

Tagged as: Deborah White Dove, Life Story Writing, New Family Legacy, Writing a Life Story