drowning doesn't look like drowning

I just came across this article on Slate and thought it was really informative.  As summer approaches, let's hope being informed keeps us and our little loved ones safe.

A lifeguard keeps watch on opening day of the newly renovated McCarren Park Pool on June 28, 2012, in Brooklyn, New York.

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the couple swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine; what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not 10 feet away, their 9-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”

How did this captain know—from 50 feet away—what the father couldn’t recognize from just 10? Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew know what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for is rarely seen in real life.

my new challenge as a human being

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"Spread love everywhere you go.  Let no one ever come to you without leaving you happier."

     - Mother Teresa

russians doing good deeds

In case you needed a visual reminder that people are good, this is a nice one.  I guess there had been a lot of insurance fraud, so Russian cars are required to have dashboard cameras.  What people have been catching instead are lots of small, anonymous acts of kindness.

The translation of the title: Do something good.

Enjoy!

simple beauty drawing timelapse

It's amazing what one can create with just a pencil, a pen and a touch of color.  Enjoy!

dailydraw timelapse from elfandiary on Vimeo.

lessons learned from fighting little girls

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I had the pleasure of meeting up with Tricia, an old friend from ninth grade, and her partner, John, and they told me the best story I'd heard in a while.

Two little girls were fighting-- all-out yelling at each other.

Then, one of the girls said, "My daddy has a mustache."

The other responded, "Want to go jump on the couch?"

And the fight was over.

We should all remember this when fights get ridiculous and go jump on a couch instead.

Tricia also directed me to this video that embodies an amazing attitude about life.  Enjoy!

9 months

Nine months for my inside baby to grow from the size of a sesame seed to the size of a watermelon, and now, nine months of my outside baby growing from fitting on papa's forearm to being almost half as long as I am.  I am still amazed at how quickly they grow, how quickly they change, and how quickly the months fly by.

Blink, and you miss things.

I now understand why parents always think their kids are smart.  When they first come into the world, babies are completely useless.  They can't even hold their heads up.  So, in contrast, when they learn to roll over or babble, you think your little one is a genius.  It's even a developmental milestone when they look for something they dropped.  Way to go!

when to buy organic

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I've been told I should get organic food for my baby.  I haven't really been vigilant about it.  But here's a list of when it's recommended and when we can get by without, from the Environmental Working Group:

Dirty Dozen (buy organic)

apples
celery
strawberries
peaches
spinach
nectarines - imported
grapes - imported
sweet bell peppers
potatoes
blueberries - domestic
lettuce
kale/collard greens

Clean 15 (lowest in pesticides)

onions
sweet corn
pineapples
avocado
asparagus
sweet peas
mangoes
eggplant
cantaloupe - domestic
kiwi
cabbage
watermelon
sweet potatoes
grapefruit
mushrooms

Hope that helps.

read to live more

"In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read...  It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish."

- S. A. Hayakawa

relaxing to boost productivity

Moorea, French Polynesia

Happy year of the snake!  Today is Chinese New Year, and it's supposed to symbolize your year ahead.  So, I intentionally spent all day with my husband and baby girl today, and it was wonderful.  I hope my year ahead is filled with more family days like this.

Also, in my current mission of creating more of a work-life balance, I really appreciated this article that my writing buddy sent me from the New York Times.  I hope you find it useful, too.

Relax!  You'll Be More Productive
By Tony Schwartz

THINK for a moment about your typical workday. Do you wake up tired? Check your e-mail before you get out of bed? Skip breakfast or grab something on the run that’s not particularly nutritious? Rarely get away from your desk for lunch? Run from meeting to meeting with no time in between? Find it nearly impossible to keep up with the volume of e-mail you receive? Leave work later than you’d like, and still feel compelled to check e-mail in the evenings?

distraction from distraction by distraction

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T.S. Eliot talks about "distraction from distraction by distraction" in Burnt Norton, and boy, does that seem appropriate for our modern world.

Edinburgh philosopher John Llewelyn says this "denotes a way of life lived utterly unseriously, in which one allows oneself to be driven hither and thither by one whim after another without rhyme or reason."