My husband I decided to head to Ocean City for a relaxing day at the beach. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and I had a new bathing suit from Target and a dress from Shein that I was going to use for my cover up that he surprised me with. We got up and out early to try and miss traffic. We even ran by Walmart really quick to grab ourselves a beach blanket and a beach umbrella.
Unfortunately, there was plenty of traffic despite all of our efforts. We contemplated going to Bethany Beach in Delaware so we wouldn't have to sit in traffic. We opted to just continue on with our plans to Ocean City. We stopped at Chick- Fil- A when we were close because by this time it was lunch time!
After we arrived in Ocean City we drove around for a bit before we actually found parking. We ended up have to pay to park and walk quite a way to get to the beach. After arriving at the beach, we found what we thought was the perfect spot. We laid out our blanket and proceeded to put sunscreen on. We decided to just lay there and watch the waves roll in and out. The beach was semi busy and there were some people in the water. This particular area even had lifeguards on duty.
Several minutes passed and we decided that we should go get in the water after all that is why we went! We went and touched it with our feet and oh my goodness was it cold! So, we went and sat back down. Surprised that anyone was actually in the water! It was really windy too but that's pretty normal for the beach.
As we sat there on the beach my husband said, "we really should try to get in just to say we did." I said, "okay but first let's take a picture before we are all wet." So, we took a quick selfie then I put my sunglasses and his phone back in our beach bag and we proceeded to stand at the edge of the beach. Even though, it was freezing we decided we would get used to it. Holding each other's hands, we walk in slowly we weren't very far when all of a sudden, we had to walk down a hill. I was now up to my chest and freezing. There was a tiny wave that came, and we jumped over it together. Then, all of a sudden out of nowhere a huge wave more than 3 feet high appeared. I thought I would be able to swim up over it like I always do. As, I was swimming up it, it crashed down hard on my head. My husband grabbed me and pulled me up at which point I grabbed a breath but then, I was slammed by the wave even harder. All I could think was "my husband is going to crush me!" Thankfully he was aware that that would happen, and he let go of me. At that point I was pushed by the waves all the way to the ocean floor. I had my eyes open so at least I could see to protect my head. Somehow, I was able to keep holding my breath. My husband was being slammed around by the waves as well. Luckily for him he is much bigger and has more strength than I have. As I was about to stand up another wave crashed on me and drugged me along the ocean floor. I was reaching up trying to get to the top. I was almost out of air when I felt my husband's arm wrap around me and pull me up. I could hear him saying you're okay I got you! It took a few seconds to register that I was standing. My bathing suit bottoms had buckets of sand in it weighing me down. My hair was full of sand and an absolute knotted mess. My bathing suit top was only halfway on me. I was covered in scratches all over my back, stomach arms and legs. I'm not really sure how I was able to protect my head. As I trudged out of the water I looked to see if anyone had noticed that I nearly drown and that my husband saved my life. To my dismay nobody even noticed! Not even the lifeguards! What I learned that day is that drowning is silent it can happen so quickly and can go unnoticed. Do I know how to swim "Yes!" I have been swimming my whole life! "Yes"! I was even in swim competitions growing up. Have I been to the beach before? "Yes!" I have been going to the beach my whole life! It doesn't matter how experienced a swimmer you are it is easy to drown! The ocean is unpredictable and huge waves can suddenly appear out of nowhere! When that happens, you can easily be swept away and drown before anybody ever notices that you are gone!
After we both managed to get out of the water, we just laid on our blanket resting. I was very thankful to be alive! Always be aware of who is in the water and have a plan in place if you spot someone struggling in the water. If you're planning a fun beach vacation with your family, please watch each other closely. Our day could have very easily ended in tragedy!
Stay tuned to the follow up post to see what we did after this experience to ensure that we had a great day!
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