drowning?

Many people I know were writing 25 things about themselves today on facebook, currently the hot internet social site. 25 interesting things? 25 weird things? Just 25 things...simple as that.
So, as I thought about 25 things I would share with possibly the entire world, I thought about the funny things about my past, the quirky things about my personality, the awful things that would shock people but helped shape who I am as a woman today. I thought about all the heartfelt things that I feel make me a good person. Finally, I tried to come up with a compilation of all these items.
This list was a solid slice of who I am. The fact that I am a runner and I love the beach. When I'm not at the beach, I'm hitting the clubs in Vegas. I love hot, tall boys and even more than the desert, I love my sister who I have only gotten to share my life with recently. I love being a parent even though my parents weren't the most loving and sharing models for me. There were many things I came up with to describe the numerous facets of my person.
The exercise reminded me of some incidents in my past which I rarely think about.
I almost drowned when I was about 10. Literally pulled from the pool by my hair during a swim lesson (if you can believe it).
Then when I was 25, I was in a boating mishap with some friends and fell off the boat during a storm. We had all been drinking, and because I had the initial trauma at age 10 I never fully accepted the challenge of learning to swim. I knew if I went under water, in that lake, with my friends struggling to hang on to the boat themselves, during the course of this storm, I wouldn't survive. I knew it in my heart. The sailboat bucked back and forth in the harsh waves of the tumultuous lake, as it attempted to throw me from it's back like an angry horse. I struggled to hang on as I slipped across the slick surface of the tiny boat. Everyone struggled to hang on as our captain of this tiny vessel wrestled with the sail trying to get us back to shore.
It was the end of summer. The temperatures had been hot before the storm. Even if we had not been drinking alcohol all afternoon, a struggle like this would have drained anyone. The heat and the liquor combined were a deadly prescription for this water ride. But, I had the looming thought hanging over my head, reminding me that I would drown. Who would pull me out of the lake by my hair? Would I still be breathing?
As I looked at my friends, and heard them screaming, "Hang on", I slowly watched each find a nook, a rope, something to grasp. I slid to the end of the boat, which was actually the front of the boat, but it had been tossed down, so it was now sloped,heading directly into the water, and I was no longer aboard. My arm was the only remaining part of my body still on the boat and I desperately reached for anything, anyone, and as my hope turned to fear as the cold water enveloped my body, I felt a hand touch my arm. One of my friends had found a way to slide down the boat towards the water and extend a hand to me. He held on long enough for the boat to regain it's posture and pull me up. I could no longer hang on. I was so tired. My arms hurt. I was cold. I was prepared to go under. But I didn't.