“My sister grabbing my hand, the ocean pulling me by my feet…”

I really resonated with the question in the email: “Have you ever been swimming in the ocean and gotten pulled under by a wave?” Um I was actually just thinking about this last night. Um I have when I was, I think I was like four, um one set of my grandparents lives in Florida and we were visiting. And me, my sister and my parents were walking on the beach. Like, in the evening, and the ocean was relatively calm and uh my sister and I were closer to the water and then my parents were like, the same level as us, but, like, further back, not as close to the water. And this totally, just, rogue wave out of nowhere just swept up and grabbed me off the beach and, you know, knocked me off my feet and pulled me out. And I was closest to the water so it was me, not my sister and – and when my mom tells the story she’s like, you know, we saw it happen. And there’s another couple walking on the beach and they saw it happen and like all four of us just went running. Um but like they were a little ways away, you know. And the crazy thing is that, like, somehow my sister,  who’s only two years older than me, so if I was four she would have been six, like, was able to grab me and hold on to me and I remember this obviously from my point of view. Not not, the stuff that they’re describing but I have a very strong memory of being underwater, you know like my feet towards the ocean. You know off – having been swept off my feet and just like the pull of the ocean and like the roar of being underwater, you know, seems so loud. Um and it felt like forever, it felt like I was forever suspended, you know, my sister grabbing my hand the ocean pulling me by my feet. And just like not sure who is going to win that tug of war. And the – I think the most bizarre part of it is like how could my sister have won it you know, she’s – she was six and I just remember how hard the – the water was pulling on me that tide, you know, and how did that happen? You know, like I just I still don’t really get it. Um and I never – I’ve only recently realized, like – like, being able to put the words traumatic event on that like that was very traumatic for me. Um the thing is, like, I’ve never been afraid of water since then, like, I’m a really good swimmer. I’ve always loved the water before and after that I still love the ocean but it also gives me like a sense of awe in like the fear kind of way not fear as in, I wouldn’t – I’ve been in the ocean many times since then, but I don’t turn my back on it, you know and it gives me a sense of like overwhelming like you just never know with the ocean, right?