I’m glad you made it.
When I was nine, I jumped out of a canoe wearing a life jacket into a Quebec lake in early fall, because I was mad at my brother. Within a minute, I couldn’t move and he had to tow me in. The humiliation.
When I was eleven, I jumped into a pond in Sweden in early June to rescue a toy my little brother had dropped. It was about 15 feet out from the dock, and by the time I reached the toy I couldn’t take a breath, and on the way back I was losing the use of my arms and legs. Just made it.
The mammmalian diving reflex is stronger in children but those two episodes have given me a fearful respect of cold water.
Almost dying for a toy must have been one of the dumbest things ever, right? At least I hope you didn’t keep trying to top it.
I remember my dad went fishing once. I had a toy battleship, and some string.... it was like flying a kite on the water until the string broke. I was very upset.
Good thing my dad was too smart to jump in after it, because it was starting to rain and the wind was pushing it quickly. He went into a floating boat dock kind of thing and caught it passing underneath.
It wasn’t freezing, the water was probably cold though. But with a storm coming in and the water was really choppy for a big Texas lake, my dad was in his 50’s I think. (I was born 40 years behind him)