Be Yourself: It Could Save A Life

I have a natural tendency to see impending disaster.  This is a blessing and a curse.

 When I have used this gift to aid others in avoiding calamity, I have been praised.  However, I have also misjudged some situations and needlessly raised concerns where no danger existed.  That has led to my having to apologize to some for my “false alarm” antics, including the police.  

Hey: I couldn’t find my 27 year-old step-daughter, who was running just a few minutes behind me on a busy highway in another state.  Wouldn’t everyone assume she had been kidnapped?!  She hadn’t.  She simply had taken a different route.  

My bad.

Perhaps this need to avoid disaster originated from my childhood, as I hear that children

Carrying the crown at 6.
Look at that serious face?
Even then I was way too serious!

of divorce may have a tendency to always expect the worse.  Perhaps it is because my over-active imagination has allowed me to create fantastic stories, full of life, love, romance, fantasy, and a few flying dragons. 

How I came to be labeled the cautious one really isn’t important to me.  But at one time in my life, it seemed to be impeding on my ability to experience life fully, and this had been pointed out to me on more than one occasion by concerned, or annoyed, family members.  And so I made a concerted effort to quell this tendency, put away my super-hero cape and just enjoy life from a different perspective. 

Then one day…

My husband and I were on vacation with some friends.  While the husbands were golfing, my girlfriend and I headed to the exercise room, which had expansive windows overlooking the pool area.  As we exercised and chatted on the elliptical machines (mostly chatting), a small child of about two years of age appeared to the right walking by the pool.  

I could feel my cape strings tugging at my neck as I assessed the danger of a toddler

walking so close to the water.  He seemed to be going somewhere, and I expected an adult to appear in view any time.

However, that adult never appeared in my view, and the toddler continued to stroll on to the left and out of view.  I looked at the row of exercisers to see if anyone else was registering alarm at what we had just witnessed.  No one seemed to be ready to hit the door and run madly to rescue this child.  Okay, then I will stay put.

Except I couldn’t push the image out of my mind.  I asked my girlfriend if she had seen the child, and she said she had and thought he was cute.  I casually mentioned (really emphasizing the casual in case she got suspicious that “impending disaster” Karla had returned) that I had not seen an adult with the toddler.  Her reply was she assumed there was one waiting at the other end of the pool. 

Assumed.  That was it.  We were a row of assumers watching life unfold in front of us without any assurance that what we were assuming to be true was actually the reality for this small child. 

And with that realization, my cape appeared, I knotted it firmly around my neck and took off.  I knew the entire exercise room would watch my humiliation should I round the corner and find this child snuggling with an adult.  I didn’t care.  Hadn’t I been fuel of others’ teasing and jokes for years and survived just fine?

As I made it to the area of the pool where I had first seen the child, I could immediately see there was no one around the pool, including the child.  This wasn’t that unusual this early in the morning, but where was the toddler?  Just to make sure he wasn’t in the baby pool, or that the unthinkable had happened and he had entered the main pool, I began walking in the direction that I had seen him go.

Then I saw him.  He was over in the corner of the pool area, looking out towards the beach area as if he were looking for someone.  He must’ve heard my approach, because he turned and looked at me.  I smiled, and he immediately put his arms up for me to pick him up.  My heart jumped to my throat.  This little guy was out here alone, and he was completely trusting me to help him. 

He didn’t respond to my questioning him for his name, his mommy’s name, etc.  He obviously was too young.  Here was a toddler, now with his head resting comfortably on my shoulder, so young, vulnerable and yet comforted by a stranger who seemed willing to help find his way home.

Now I had to think.  From where did this child come, and how was I going to find his parents?  As I walked back toward the building, I glanced up at the exercise room and noticed that everyone had stopped exercising and was watching me with this baby in my arms.  Their faces registered the concern and fear, and even horror of what had been avoided by my seeking out this child.

When I opened the door to the office, I glanced down the beach.  That is when I saw her.  She was too far away to hear the screams, but I could tell she was panicked and frantically running.  As she ran, she was grabbing beach-goers, and pleading with them to help her.  The band of people who were responding to her panicked state was quickly growing, and I immediately realized that I had found this child’s mother.

Still too far away to hear me call to hear, I ran towards her with the child in my arms.  Finally, I was close enough, so I began to wave my free arm wildly.   When she saw me, she collapsed on the ground in relief, and now I could hear her cries of relief and pure joy.  She finally got to her feet and ran towards me.  When we met, she covered me with hugs and her child with kisses.  

She explained that her sister had gone out for an early run and had not locked the door on their condo.  This child had wandered 5 condos away, but now he was safely back in his mother’s arms.  With a little pat on his back and an assurance to his mother that he was safe now, I turned and walked back toward our condo.

The how and why of our genetic make-up is a mystery in this earthly realm.  Not everyone is wired to be the safety police, scoping out situations to ease suffering or avoid injury.  But on that day on a beach in a small vacation town, a family avoided a disaster, and a baby found his way safely home because I honored my internal compass. 

I now live peacefully in my own skin, fully embracing and loving me as God intended me to be.  Someday, you too may thank me or laugh at me for it.  Either way, I’m okay with it.  The cape fits nicely.