Near Drowning as a Child: Vague Recollections

[Ivan Seeking]

Although I have thought of this from time to time, tonight I was reminded of the details of an event that I had nearly forgotten. When I was about four years old I nearly drowned. Without going into the details of how, I remembered that I had actually sank to the bottom of the pool before my dad saw me and pulled me out. Basically I remembered the experience of drowning for the first time since it happened.

It seems strange that I would remember the details surrounding the event but had all but blocked the experience of drowning itself. I remembered it happening - I had flashes of pushing off the edge of the pool, then seeing my dad coming at me underwater, and then a bit about being pulled out and lying on the concrete, but not much at all about the core event. And the really odd part is that I have never had any fear of water. In fact between the ages of eight and twenty-six I was very active in a number of water sports. My mother used to say that I was a fish.

It is strange how memories can seemingly pop out of nowhere. It is also strange how some events affect us profoundly while others that seem highly significant may have no apparent impact at all.

 

[VashtiMaiden]

It is strange how memories can seemingly pop out of nowhere. It is also strange how some events affect us profoundly while others that seem highly significant may have no apparent impact at all.

 

[lisab]

For me there seems to be two types of memory. In one, I just remember who-what-where...it's a "just the facts, ma'am" kind of memory. The other is mostly just emotion, very strong emotion but I can't remember the details of the event.

But for a few events I remember both the facts and the emotion. Those are very profound memories.

But, like you, I find it's hard to find any correlation between the significance of an event and how it will be remembered.

 

[Oerg]

haha quite to the contrary, I remember almost drowning as a kid and I had a sort of aversion to water ever since, although I'm quite an average swimmer.

 

[dst]

I had a similar experience, it's really strange. As they say, your whole life literally does flash between your eyes. Is there a quirky, long scientific name for that experience? :D

I remember everything though, right down to swigging a couple of litres of murky pond water. Bleurgh!

 

[hypatia]

I was just 2 when my brother{age 4} asked me if I wanted to go pick berries. I recall being lost in the woods, just wandering around looking for berries. I even recall the Jack and Jill metal pail I carried.
I was around 40 when I recalled it, and talked to my Mom about it. She confirmed that it did happen, I was lost for over 5 hours. Park rangers found over a mile away from our camp.

 

[tribdog]

At your age Ivan I wonder if you have finally ran out of storage space in your head and your brain is popping up old memories to see if you still need them to make room for new stuff.