I was at a neighborhood pool with some friends a few days ago, and I took my friend’s son, Luke, to go down the water slide. As Luke climbed the ladder to the slide, I positioned myself at the bottom of the slide. I was a little nervous because the force of the water was pretty strong at the bottom– definitely strong enough to pull a little kid under. Plus, the roaring sound of the water was deafening, and since I rely on my sense of hearing so much, I felt even more impaired. Thinking that Luke’s turn to come down the slide was next, I placed myself directly at the bottom of the slide, ready to catch him.
What I failed to see 10 feet above me was that there was another, much larger boy in front of Luke. So as my arms reached out to catch my friend’s little 5-year-old boy, I was shocked to find myself catching a teenage boy (although I doubt I was as shocked as he was by the look on his face.)
To make myself feel better, I thought about how I would rather be embarrassed nearly wrapping my arms around a 15-year-old than failing to catch my friend’s little boy! (And for the record, the next time he went down, I had him yell down as loud as he could right before his turn!)