A hero in self preservation.....

Yesterday before I fell asleep, an old memory pushed to the forefront of my mind......invading that quiet time before sleep. It happened about 13 yrs ago...subhanAllah, how the time passes.........

I was pregnant with baby #2 and a friend of hubby's was just newly married. This friend wanted to take his wife out and asked us to come. He wanted to go see Lake Ontario. So the friend came and picked us up in his car....his egyptian wife sat in the backseat beside me, my almost 2 yr old in the middle, and very pregnant me. She didn't speak english, and back then....I was super limited in my arabic. So we sat in silence as Hubby's friend drove us to where he wanted to go. It wasn't where I was expecting we'd go to look at the lake.

It was this little restaurant district, that was nice looking and very well planned. Although I could hear the lake, I couldn't see it anywhere. It was almost 11 pm at night. So we walk along this one path, that is enclosed on both sides with a chain. You know the kind? You know the kind in the bank? That pole - hanging chain - pole - hanging chain? Yeah, that's it. On both sides of us. So up ahead, I see that this path takes a sharp left turn, but fail to see anything before the turn. Is there a pathway down to the lake? Is there a grassy area we can sit on?



I see my almost 2 yr old daughter running towards the end, right where the path takes that sudden left turn. I get antsy....and yell to hubby, go run and catch ur daughter, I can't see anything at the end of this. So he starts walking calmly....but me? I start to run...something is not right. The sound of the waves is getting constantly louder....what could be there?? So I get my hands on my daughter before the end, and stop at the end and look out. U know what I see?
It's a cliff. A sheer drop, only protected by the pole - hanging chain. It's like the three level diving platform....I'd say as high as the second level.....and it goes right into the lake. No sandy beach, no sitting area...just that sheer drop.

I become panicky at the thought of what might have happened. My husband can't swim. He is the sort who will go out in the water as far as his knees and then come back. And me? Oh, I'm 7 mos pregnant....what would I have done?


My daughter definately would have fallen.....definately. And then I get frustrated with my indecision. I shouldn't even think about something like this....I need to react.

And yet, there I stood, weighing the options.

There wouldn't be time to think. I bring up all these points to my husband and he tells me something that relieves my mind. He says, "O, I wouldn't have thought at all, I would have reacted instantly!" That makes me feel better. I say to myself. Thank God one of us would have done something.


I remember bits and pieces of stories I'd heard...about mothers picking up cars off their kids and other feats of extreme strength, to protect and save their children. Do I have that ability? But you see, that's where my hesitation would come in, being 7 mos pregnant, I'd be thinking...which one? Do I jump in and save my oldest, but maybe in doing so, I'd be sacrificing the baby? And Hubby is no help...he can't even swim. What to do? What to do?

In the next two months, I joined my hubby up for swimming lessons at the local community center. He passed and got his certificate. LOL! You need to know how to swim I told him!


I started going to the "sister swims" that the muslim community was sponsoring and taught my girls to swim. My oldest was impossibly young and a strong swimmer....child # 2 was in the water since she was 6 mos old.....child # 3 could swim unassisted from the time she was 5 yrs old.....and even child # 4....my 4 yr old daughter.....she's been in the water since she was 6 mos as well.....last summer, she was swimming small distances unassisted, diving off the side....masha Allah! Child # 3....the 9 yr old....was approached by a swimming instructor and asked where her Mommy was....she directed the captain over to me. They asked me to let her join the Club Swim team, without paying....because she was a strong competitor....and they haven't seen someone with her ability in her age group for years. Masha Allah!

But do you see where this incident changed things? I said to myself that day, years ago....my children will learn to swim. And I've been blessed, because the nearest club to me has not one, but 4 swimming pools. An Olympic pool, a diving pool, and two kiddie pools. During the summer months...the Olympic pool is open to women only 2 days a week. The pool has a fence around it, and they hang heavy curtains tied closed, and lock all the entrances save one. Members can come inside and swim, but no men are allowed. In fact, they have 3 security guards sitting at a table before the entrance, outside....they can't see in. ABSOLUTELY NO MEN!

Can u imagine the feeling of going swimming in an outdoor pool....hijab off, hot sun beating down.....??? Isnt' that something we have basically forgot? Believe me, it's glorious. And u know...that me and my girls are there 2 days a week without fail. In the summertime, our lives revolve around the swim.

Oh, I just realized. I didn't really finish the entire memory of that day, 13 yrs ago. So there I was, standing on the edge of that cliff....my almost 2 yr old safely in my arms....looking down into that abyss, concerned and worried about my hesitation.....and I've just expressed it all to my darling husband and he tells me something that relieves my mind. He says, "O, I wouldn't have thought at all, I would have reacted instantly!" Remember I said it made me feel better, feel safe and protected? In the moment of need, my own failings would be covered by my quick thinking husband.....so I turn to him, full of the love of a new wife looking at her hero....and say to him..."you would have reacted instantly?.....What would you have done?"

So he mutters slightly under his breath....slowly and carefully....
"Well, I can't swim, so I'd push you in."