A Time to Act

I consider myself good in a crisis. I buckle down, asses the problem and then act decisively. This "grace under pressure" has served me well in business and in everyday life.

While in San Diego, it caused a bit of an embarrassment.

The family was enjoying a day at the pool...mom and dad have a wonderful black bottom pool that we have enjoyed for 17 years...we have had swim parties, rung in the New Years with a "Polar Bear Swim" and even used it for raging games of 3-Flies Up, Marco Polo and Categories...this particular day found a good chunk of the family horsing around and getting some sun.

My sister Esther decided she needed to snap some pictures to document the day. She ran inside, grabbed the camera and proceeded to sit on the side of the pool snapping away.

At one point, her husband and I were swimming in the deep-end, splashing and making merry. Esther says to her husband "Hey Brock, take a picture of Claire and me." She then threw the camera in the air, towards her husband, IN THE POOL!

It was like slow-mo...I yelled "Noooooooooooooooooooo" and watched as the camera fell 2 feet short of Brock, splashing and sinking to the bottom of the pool.

I looked at her, confirmed it was the camera that just hit the water and made a Greg Louganis dive to the bottom of the pool....I grabbed the camera just as it was about to hit the bottom and raced to the top with the camera held above my head. I saw a problem, I assessed the situation and I acted. I just hoped that I acted fast enough to save the camera.

As I gently poked my sister about her terrible throw and her husband's inability to catch, they both started laughing..."Why are you laughing? I just risked my life to save your new camera."

"It is a waterproof, underwater camera."

Whoops...

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Luckily the egg on my face was washed off by the chlorine...see: