Doing Things Alone After 60: I Ended Up With a Stranger’s Babies at Aquatica
Last weekend my husband was out of town, I had nothing else going on, and I have an annual pass to Aquatica. So I went by myself.
Doing things alone after 60 still feels a little new to me some days, but I’m getting used to it. Sometimes it just means a quiet day floating in the sun with nobody to answer to. That’s what I expected out of this one.
That’s not exactly what I got.
Two Little Ones in Over Their Heads
I was out in the fast lazy river, the one that actually takes some real effort to manage, when I noticed a dad with two small kids. Both of them had life jackets on, thank God, but they were flat on their backs in the water, flailing, and he didn’t seem to notice how much trouble they were in.
I couldn’t just float past it.
I made my way over and scooped up the older one, maybe three years old, and asked the dad if he minded. He said go for it. That little boy wrapped his arms around my neck and his legs around me and held on like his life depended on it. Which, in that current, it kind of did.
It broke my heart a little, honestly, how tightly he held on. And at the same time, I was just glad I was there.
One Baby on Each Side
The younger one, under a year old, was doing the same thing, reaching and flailing, looking for something solid to hold onto. So I scooped him up too. One baby on each side of me, and I floated with both of them, trying to keep their faces out of the water jets and their bodies upright instead of just tumbling down the river however the current decided to take them.
It’s a hard river for grown adults. For two babies who had no idea what was happening, it was something else entirely.
At some point I looked around for the dad. He was gone. Not nearby, not behind me, nowhere in the river at all.
Where Was Everyone Else
Turns out he’d needed a break, some time to play and dive without two kids depending on him every second. And it also turned out mom and grandma were elsewhere in the park with the twins. This whole family was stretched about as thin as a family can be stretched.
I held onto those two boys for probably five or six loops around that river before their lips started quivering and they were shivering enough that I knew they needed out. I found the dad again, told him plainly that this river is hard even for adults, let alone kids that little, and we got them out and the life jackets off.
I asked him where mom and grandma were. He told me they were with the twins. My heart just sank a little for all of them, the dad included. Everyone in that family was in over their heads that day, in their own way.
He was kind about it. Not embarrassed, not annoyed that a stranger had basically taken over his kids for ten minutes. Just grateful, I think.
What I Kept Thinking About After
The kids were never actually in danger. The life jackets did their job. They were scared, not drowning. But watching them flail while looking, from a distance, like they were just floating along like everyone else, stuck with me.
That’s how it goes for people too, isn’t it. We can look like we’re just fine out here, floating along same as everybody, while we’re actually flailing and scared and not totally sure what’s happening.
If that’s where you are right now, whatever your version of the fast lazy river looks like, I want you to know I’m right there with you. I’m over 60, I’m figuring out what doing things alone after 60 even looks like most days, and I’m still finding my own way through the current same as anyone.
Come float with me.
Don’t forget to check how you can help kids be safer in the pool. This is a great article for those simple reminders. CDC Drowning Prevention for Kids
Want to read how I got started with this crazy idea to start a blog and a YouTube channel? or How moved to Hawaii and was Afraid of the Ocean.