A Motherly Prescence
When I was 8 years old, I drowned at the local YMCA pool. I was playing at the deep end, unsupervised. I remember being suddenly “awake” on the opposite side of the pool, watching two lifeguards pulling my body out of the pool. CPR efforts were futile, then 5 minutes later, I was taken to an ambulance. As the realization of death slowly began to sink in, a warm motherly presence started to materialize. She told me to stay calm and count backward from 5. When I get to 1, I “wake up” in the ambulance.