Even at 6 years old, I was sufficiently stunned that this memory has been seared into my brain with clarity. It was summertime, and I was hanging out in my back yard with my mom and her friend, Glorene.

Glorene brought her five-year old daughter, RoAnne, over to play in the pool. My nine-year-old sister, Irene, was playing with RoAnne at the shallow end of the pool.

My family always had a pool growing up. My mom used the pool to make money toward her college tuition. She was a certified instructor and lifeguard and taught swimming lessons to nearly every kid in the neighborhood. Naturally, she was conscientious about water safety, and luckily for my sister, she was paying close attention this day.

Mom and Glorene were in their bathing suits and sunglasses sitting under the shade of an almond tree between the pool house and our house. I was sitting by my mom's feet playing with the pebbles that separated the pool deck from the patio while my sister and RoAnne were swimming.

Mom and Glorene were chatting away when, suddenly, Mom jumped up, leapt over me, and while in the air, threw her sunglasses to the side and lunged into the pool.

Her feet, legs, hands, and arms were splayed so when she hit the water she came to a complete stop. In a single motion, she landed next to RoAnne and lifted her up so that my sister could come out from under her and gasp for air.

Irene was trying to teach RoAnne to swim. They got too far away from the shallow end of the pool and RoAnne panicked and climbed on top of Irene to keep her head above water. Irene was trapped underwater, struggling to free herself from the girl who had a vice-like grip on her.

I sat there stunned, watching my sister swim to the side of the pool as she was trying to figure out what went wrong. For Mom, it was part of what she did as a lifeguard and instructor. For Irene and me, it was a lesson learned that we would never forget.

~ Andrew Laufer