I was standing on a sandbar, in chest-high seawater. I decided to swim over the sandbar. After a few yards, decided to stand again, as I was uneasy with swimming.
Oops! Where was that sandbar?
Time to panic and deploy my safety net: elementary backstroke. After what seemed an eternity, I did reach the shore.
I was lucky that beautiful summer day years ago.
Lucky because there was no rip-tide or even gentler current that would whisk me away.
Lucky because there was no wave to enter my nostrils during my backstroke.
I was also foolish that day. What was I thinking? Swimming in the ocean after learning to swim just a few months prior!
“Luck is for fools. It’s all they have to hope for.” — Stephen King
I haven’t swum in the ocean since. Even fools can learn!