Freak Accident

So I have this antique railing, that we've had for years, and it's quite heavy and seven feet long and I had it leaning against the fence near the pool....

On Tuesday, Kona and I were in the pool and Kona, of course, was playing with her tennis balls when one ball rolled behind the antique railing and Kona went to get it....

Before I knew what was happening, Kona stuck her head between the bars on the railing and her head got stuck. In her attempt to free herself, she backed up, taking the antique railing still caught around her neck with her and she toppled backward into the deep end of the pool, railing still stuck on her neck.

I was there, of course, saw the whole horrifying surreal moment, as if in slow motion. I dived immediately into the deep end and will never forget the image of Kona caught under the railing, pinned to the pool floor, motionless.

I dived but failed to reach the railing.

I dived again, failed again.

By then, I was freaking. Panicking. Wanting to cry out for help, realizing there was no one but me, so I dived again.

And this time, the third time, I managed to reach the railing and somehow pull it up by one end but Kona's head was still stuck in the seven foot long iron rail and there was no way I was going to get her and the heavy rail to the surface of the pool when suddenly she sprang to life, kicking away, and my underwater vision was just a blur of flailing blonde legs and bubbles. And me, underwater, holding onto that rail for dear life.

Kona somehow managed to extract herself. I saw her ascend, as if some force pulled her upward.

And she popped to the surface.

And I dropped the rail and surfaced and watched Kona swim to the edge of the pool and climb out.  Shaken, but unscathed.

Jeepers. She nearly drowned that afternoon.  I nearly had a heart attack.

After assuring myself that Kona was okay, I now had the problem of a seven foot long railing lying on the bottom of the deep end of the pool.

Took me awhile, and some ingenious maneuvering with a garden hoe, to get thing up again and I propped it, ladder-like against the side of the pool, climbed out and managed to lever it out. Yesterday, a friend helped me move the darn thing to the other side of the house, far far from the pool.

Kona is fine. She's on antibiotics, in case she got salt water in her lungs.

Mom (me), on the other hand, has many bruises on my knees and legs and sore muscles and feels rather like I've been beat up or run over by a truck and I am still pretty shook up.... but I am also very grateful that Kona survived.

I don't think I could have handled it if she had not.