The Lake Story

The ultimate customer service story

In order to save Antonio* from drowning,
I needed to save myself first

One of my graphic design clients invited me to a company event at her family farm as a way of saying “thank you” to all her employees and vendors for our hard work.

Prior to the event, I was perusing Facebook and noticed someone had posted instructions about what to do when someone is drowning. The first point in the post was that a drowning person will panic and may actually drown you in the process of you trying to help them.

I nodded;  I knew from personal experience that a drowning person could possibly drown you from panic.

When I was eight years old, I took summer swimming lessons with two of my older brothers. Although the class was advanced, there was no way I was going to fail and let my brothers tease me. I would tread water for the full five minutes so I could pass the darn test!

During the last half-hour of our final class, we reviewed life-saving procedures. I can still feel my damp bathing suit clinging to my skin as I sat on the cold tile. The dummy they used for the life-saving exercises really freaked me out and I thought, “I am not putting my mouth on the lips of that thing.” But I knew the information was important; my intuition said, “hey pay attention to this.” Less than two months later, I would find out if I had paid attention enough.

While on vacation, our family checked into the Pine Motel in Bar Harbor, Maine. The pool had just been cleaned but the rope hadn’t been put back which marked where the shallow part ended and the deep part began. The pool had a severe – and unmarked – drop-off. After settling in, my siblings and I went to the pool to play after being in the car all day.

I dove off the diving board, swam to the side, got out, got back on the diving board and dove off again. I did this over and over again. I was just about to dive again – I could feel it was going to be an awesome dive – when something caught my eye. I thought it was my brother Tom doing something weird. Of course, to me, my brother Tom was always doing something weird.

That’s when I realized he was drowning. He was still underwater, struggling to breathe. I dove in and swam right for him. When I reached him, I grabbed him under the arms as I was taught and started pulling him towards the side of the pool. He repeatedly pulled me under but I was able to get him to the side of the pool only to realize it wasn’t my older brother Tom but my younger three-year-old brother Pat. Pat had been bopping around on his toes in the shallow end and had accidentally slipped off the steep ledge into the deeper water.

Reading that Facebook post brought back all the memories of that incident. I remembered the struggle to stay above water and save my brother; part of me was relieved I would never have to go through that again. Yet my intuition again said, “hey, pay attention to this.”

As I prepared to join my client at her farm, I changed my plans three times, finally deciding to go out early on Friday afternoon. Everyone else would be arriving the following day. I told a friend that morning, “I don’t know why but I feel like I am supposed to go early today.”

My client’s farm was not just farmland. It was acres and acres of land with woods, pastures, and lakes. There was a dining hall, a big cabin, and a house, all beautifully – and remotely – situated in the woods.

Side by side were two pristine private lakes, one 25 acres, the other 50.

After a tour, we all went into the dining hall to get a snack. Antonio, a young employee, couldn’t wait to get into the water despite the fact that his mother had told him to stay away from it. He was so excited and had assured my client that he knew how to swim. While we were eating, I turned to him, looked him in the eye and said, “You know, there are no lifeguards here.” He told me no problem.

Twenty minutes later, I was standing at the water’s edge on the white sandy beach of the larger lake.

The sky was clear blue. The temperature was just right. The slight breeze welcomed me and kissed my cheeks. The water felt so good on my feet. It was so clear and refreshing. I put my hands on my hips, breathed in and thought, ‘So this is what wealth feels like. This must be why I am here today.” I stood there, breathing in all the amazing beauty and feelings of wealth.

Then Ali*, Antonio’s co-worker, appeared. He stood tentatively on the beach away from the water. I said to him, “Ali, you don’t have your bathing suit on.” He replied, “I am afraid of the water.” I took notice of his answer.

Antonio came bounding over to the beach in his bathing suit. He had the biggest grin. He was all ready to go. He smiled at us, gave two thumbs up, ran full speed into the water, and took a flying dive into the lake. I only saw his face for a brief moment when he resurfaced. He was over his head, panicked, and in an instant, he was drowning, disappearing just below the surface of the water. Because it happened so fast I initially thought they were playing a joke on me, but the urgency of Ali screaming, “He’s drowning!” made me realized it was no joke.

Ali and I were the only witnesses to this event. At that moment, I realized why I was there and I had a choice to make. Did I stand safely on the shoreline and watch a young man die? Or did I use what skill sets I had, and the knowledge from my previous experience with my brother to go out into the uncertainty of the water and rescue Antonio?

I went out into the water fully clothed, the Facebook post flickering in my mind as I swam towards him. ‘Why didn’t I read the post more thoroughly?” I grimaced.

Even though the Facebook post and that childhood memory helped me understand what could happen, it still didn’t prepare me for the force I was about to encounter. When I reached Antonio, he jumped on top of me and was literally assaulting me, desperately trying to get out of the water. I found myself at the bottom of the lake being beaten and drowned by the young man I had come to help.

I got angry and thought to myself, “This is not how I am suppose to die. I have things I have come to do yet!” In order to save Antonio, I needed to save myself first.

Gaining clarity and getting angry saved my life; somehow I managed to get my head above water to breathe; I wasn’t being pushed under as much. I could see Antonio’s terrified face as he gripped his hand on my shoulder blade, still pushing me down into the water while trying to get himself out.

In between being pushed underwater, I began to communicate with him. “Let go of me and I’ll take your hand,” I said to him as I looked him in the eye. “Let go of me and I’ll take your hand.” He would not let go for what felt like an eternity. Eventually he surrendered and released me.

As promised, I took him by the wrist of the very hand that had been pushing down on me, and I began to swim with one arm as I pulled Antonio with the other. He thrashed behind me.

I could hear Ali still screaming on the shore, calling for my client.

This was not the best time to realize how out of shape I was. I was exhausted and felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere with my swimming. I didn’t think I could make it to the shore. Then I remembered, “ask for help!”

I meekly yelled out “God help me!” and a message immediately came, “put your foot down.” I put my foot down. My heart leaped because I had swam far enough that I could touch bottom and stand. I stood up and pulled Antonio through the water and onto the shore, thankful to be alive. My client appeared as we made it to the shore, thinking the distant yelling was because we were having fun!

I whispered, “thank you,” looking upward as I walked out of the lake.

I knew I had to own my own power and would no longer tell myself that I was small, insignificant, alone, and powerless.

That near-death experience in the lake changed my life and was my wake-up call. It helped me realize my own superpowers of intuition, courage, faith, and deep inner strength got me through that experience. I am my own Super Hero who dared to have heart and courage, and take action when it mattered most.

The experience inspired a deeper calling within me to make a more transformational difference in the world. To help others recognize that they too are courageous and capable of doing amazing things. It’s not about running into a lake, unless that is what you are called to do, and more about knowing and using your gifts and talents to truly create a life you love.  I now create Heart Art Expressions, intuitive paintings designed to connect your heart and soul with what matters most.

* The name has been changed.

©2026 Elaine Callahan. All Rights Reserved.