Post Your: "Experience of a Lifetime"

[semperfi.45]

Other than that Frog missile not exploding during the Gulf War (phew), I'd agree with JD and throw in my daughter's birth as well.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[HKinNY]

Some of the best experience in my life. Seeing the birth of my 3 children traveling to Australia, New Zealand, Disney Paris (Paris itself not to much) Rome and the Vatican. Growing up with motorcycles, dirt bikes, snowmobiles, quads, scuba diving, snow and water skiing.

The worst parts. Death of family and friends young and old.

[Patti]

Here's a profound experience that happened to me several years ago.

We were down at the lake house one summer. All of the kids were swimming off of the end of the dock, in about 20 feet of water.

I was sitting on the dock with 2 of my sister-in-laws. I had my back to the end of the dock. I could see my sister-in-laws' mouths moving, but I couldn't hear a word they were saying. It's like someone had put their hands over my ears so I couldn't hear.

And then, I heard my daughter saying "mommy, help, help me." My daughter was about 10 years old at the time.

It was like someone pulled me up out of my chair, walked me over to the end of the dock, and pushed me in.....clothes, hat, shoes and all.

My daughter and my niece were being electrocuted under water. They were in the grip of electrocution and couldn't move. They were both unconscious.

My niece was about 5 feet under the surface and I could barely see my daughter's pink bathing suit because she was down deeper in the water.

Underwater, I grabbed my niece's thigh and pushed her upward so her head was out of the water, and I grabbed my daughter's hair and held on. I kept looking up, waiting for someone to get my niece by the arms and pull her out.

All of a sudden, I saw one of my sister-in-laws fall into the water, but I couldn't do anything to help her. I had my hands full.

Finally, what seemed like an eternity, my brother-in-law reached over and pulled my niece out of the water. Then, I started pulling my daughter upward and pushed her up until her head was out of the water. My brother-in-law then reached down and pulled my daughter out of the water.

I made one big push and surfaced at the same time my sister-in-law did.

I didn't know at the time that the girls were being electrocuted. And when my sister-in-law walked over to the edge to see why I walked into the water with all of my clothes on, the electricity just pulled her in. She was being electrocuted too. What I didn't know was that my other sister-in-law screamed to shut off the electricity (her husband is an electrician). He went running through the basement, stepped on a rake, and knocked himself out. Someone finally ran to check on him and hit the circuit breaker.

All 3 of the girls had blood coming out of their mouths because the electricity caused them to clench their jaws and they bit the inside of their cheeks and tongue.

Long story short, everyone survived, but it was an extremely close call. The electrocution broke some blood capillaries. The girls had to hydrate their muscles. They had to have some therapy. But, they were ok.

Now, the strange thing is, what happened on that deck? What happened the moment I no longer heard my sister-in-laws voices? Why did it feel like someone pulled me out of that chair and walked me to the end of the dock? I heard my daughter's plea for help. But she was under water being electrocuted. How did I hear her voice when I couldn't hear my sister-in-laws?

And why wasn't I electrocuted?

Moral of the story: Make sure you have GFI receps.

[paramedic70002]

My date survived...

Was there a second date?

[deadhawg]

The birth of my son.

Yep.
In my case, the birth of my daughter.

[Paymeister]

I was first on the scene after the terrorist shooting of the Turkish Consul General in Los Angeles in 1982, where he died during my resuscitation attempts. At first I thought it was an auto accident - he was shot at a stoplight, and made it across the street and into a tree. My attempts to get him breathing were well-intentioned, but I hadn't noticed the multiple gunshot wounds to his head and torso. When the paramedics arrived, we spotted the consul corps license plates and they peeled back his shirt to find the wounds. We reckoned we would read about it in the papers - we did. I got a nice letter from the Turkish Ambassador and was able to meet him while in DC for a med school interview some months later.

I also got to pilot one of London's Underground trains late one night, did some calligraphy for the King of Swaziland, and drove Olivia DeHaviland back to her hotel one evening (and she's fully as kind in real life as the character she played in Gone With The Wind). But while these are fun stories, my daughter turning out as a fine young lady is the really big deal in my life.

[PointnClick]

These stories are all painfully cool...

First Sgt- I'd think about giving up the left one for something like that...

PCon- Awesome story... how do you tell those people about something like a jacuzzi...?

Gilraen- Speechless...

Morintp- Very heartwarming... sounds like an Oxygen Channel movie-of-the-week...

Patti- Unbelievable! My hair was standing on end reading that...

Paramedic- No second date... there is more info in the original thread...


We should publish a book... this is good reading...

[ppkheat]

Of course my children's birth, graduations, marriage, grandson's birth, etc are all up at the top where they should be.

A somewhat unique "experience of a lifetime" would be an hour long ride I took on a B-17 several years ago. Along with the ride, I got about ten minutes in the pilot's seat and got to fly it myself. Later on I happened to be sitting in the bombadiers seat in the nose.....and what a spectacular view. While sitting there the "real" pilot buzzed the airport we were flying in and out of, it was an incredible experience.