Lake Wazeecha and One Near Drowning

Back in the day - - - my high school days - - - we used to spend many a sun soaked summer afternoon here - - -

I can SHOW you this picture, but I haven't figured out a way to share the heavenly scent - - -


The scent of sun drenched pines.


Heavenly.


There are two beaches at Wazeecha, White Sands and Red Sands. Guess which one this is!


We always chose Red Sands because it was never crowded the way White Sands was. Back in OUR day (same day when we walked to school up hill both ways in driving snow with our breath freezing in our hair and on our eyebrows and in our nose) there was a raft platform out at the deep edge of the swimming area.


It is no longer there, but this boat dock is rather reminiscent of it except that it is bigger and is attached to the shore and is a different color and is closer in to shore and is really nothing like the old raft - - - other than that, it is reminiscent of it,

The raft was out in deep enough water that you had to swim to get to it. Herein lay my problem.

I am not a good swimmer.

I would make a good dog since all I can do is paddle.

But when Pam, Anita, and Anita's brother Doug were ALL swimming out to the raft, I did not want to miss out on the fun - - - so I'd begin my slow paddle.

One day when I was trying to get out to that raft, I began to tire, bob up and down, and gulp water. I called out to Anita, who had long since been on the raft, for help.

Now Anita was a GREAT prankster and half fish. When we went to the pool to swim, she would go under water and hover there until we KNEW she was drowning and pull her up. She would ALWAYS laugh, because it was just a joke. We would tell her we WEREN'T pulling her up again - - - - only to do it over and over because we couldn't stand to think what would happen if it WASN'T a joke.

Back to my story - - - I called out to Anita for help. She laughed. She thought I was trying to get even with her for all her previous "wolf" calls. I certainly was not - - - I was reaching the edge of pure panic. I realized real fast that she, not being burdened with the same fear of drowning that I was, wasn't coming to help me. I WILLED myself to stop panicking, flop over on my back, float until I could regain my strength, and then paddle the rest of the way to that raft.

I can tell you, I was never so glad to reach something solid ever before or since in my entire life.