Josiah loves water. Bathing in it, swimming in it, playing in it. If there is a body of water anywhere near, Josiah will find it.  He loves to immerse his entire body under water. And stay there. He stays under water entirely too long. I used to count the seconds he was submerged. Sometimes I had to stop counting because I was way past comfortable. I would scoop him up out of the water so he could take a breath. He didn’t seem to need it. But it certainly reassured me.

One beautiful summer day, completely unattended,  Josiah walked out the front door. None of us saw him leave. Five minutes later, we realized he was missing and took off running. My husband got to him first.  Josiah was down the street, around the bend, heading straight for the lake.

Complete strangers saw a little boy walking down the embankment toward the water. Alone. They stopped him.  I am so grateful for the compassion of strangers. I know without a doubt they saved my son from what could have been a tragic accident that day.

A few years ago we bought an above ground pool.  Figured it would be a great way to wear Josiah out during the day so he would sleep better at night.  We didn’t have it for long.

We all knew the most important pool rule: when the last person came out of the water, the ladder had to come out too. It had to be laid on it’s side a few feet away to prevent Josiah from climbing back in, unattended.  It really wasn’t much of a safety feature, but the best we had at the time.

Josiah loved that pool. He loved to hold on to the ladder and plunge himself underwater. He would stretch out his body, spread eagle and hold himself under.  I made sure to stay right next to him when he did this.  Every so often, I would reach down, pull him up and make him take a break. He didn’t like that. He wanted to stay under.

One afternoon the house seemed exceptionally quiet. I yelled out, “Anyone have Josiah?” Before they answered, I quickly glanced out the back door and noticed the pool ladder was NOT laying on the ground. It was right side up, in the water.

My heart stopped. I braced myself for what I would find. I had a feeling it would be horrific.

Sure enough, Josiah was fully immersed under water, hanging onto the ladder. He was having the time of his life.  I yanked that boy so quickly out of the pool I’m sure he didn’t know what was happening to him. I hugged his little body tightly to mine, tears streaming down my face.

That was the end of our backyard pool. I let all the water out that very day.  We dismantled the entire thing and dragged it to the trash.  Josiah loves water. A little too much.

Unfortunately, we will never have another backyard pool. We love Josiah way too much.