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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: AS EASY AS PIE (12/01/16)
I plunged right down into the blue cold water. I realised that I had stepped down off the steps into the deep end of the swimming pool. Within seconds I touched the ground, onto the smooth slippery tiles of the pool where I lost my footing. I then saw out of the corner of my eye the blurred outline of the metal silver steps I had descended in innocence. I grabbed the steps with flailing arms and pushed myself upwards gasping for air. Unhurt, but in shock I realised at that moment I really must learn how to swim. I was seven years old and on holiday with my family in a place called Ilfracombe in the County of Devon.

I remember this memory as though it was yesterday with shock and fascination. It seemed that whatever I did or wherever I went in life, I was always plunged into an arena where I had to grapple with survival. I was thrust into numerous foster homes proving over the years, even into adulthood, to be a matter of either sink or swim. ‘You can do it’ I would say to myself. ‘Just bear the pain one more time, tell your body not to feel the pain’.

Throughout my life I have had to endure extreme abuse which in reality would be classed as torture, even to an adult, let alone a child. ‘It’s easy’ I would say to myself. I spoke these words ‘It’s easy’ when I faced my abusers as a child who were preparing a hot scalding bath as part of their control. There would be no cold water to cool it down.

The one sentence I would repeat over and over again to cope with the pain ahead was ‘No pain, no pain, no pain’. I would even draw upon these words in painful situations as an adult.

I suffered from serious ear infections and the pain was so great I would repeat this same mantra hoping to control the pain. I would repeat these words 'no pain, no pain, no pain' exactly one hundred and nine times. This number remained fixed in my mind as wave upon wave of pain assaulted my young and adult body.

I had learned early on not to scream or cry as this made the situation a hundred times worse. My abusers knew that once I was thrown into the hot scalding water I would do exactly what they wanted me to do, it never failed.

At the age of ten years, still in junior school, my heart would leap at the number one hundred and nine for it was my favourite hymn. ‘In the Bleak Mid-Winter’. This song was sung at Christmas time, in winter, and when it was cold. I love the cold! I loved freezing cold milk at break-time! I cannot bear heat even to this day, I dread the Summer. I also discovered through my music teacher I had a natural alto voice. I loved all the flat notes, they resonated with my hidden sorrow and pain.

God met my heart on this very day as I sang this hymn. I realised He had walked with me every day, even in the fiery scalding bath episodes. I miraculously never bore any scars, only memories of fear.

Four decades later when recovering memories of my childhood, being healed by God, I was hospitalised five times for severe ear infections, it was by far the worst one. The doctor announced in amazement ‘I’ve never met anyone with such a high pain threshold as you’. I nodded quietly to myself, God confirmed yet again that my abuse really did happen.

After I had plunged into the cold deep waters of the swimming pool in Ilfracombe, all those years ago, I taught myself to swim. I practised every day with a rubber ring around my waist. I even swam in this outdoor Lido when it was raining. The soft, warm rain showered down onto my face like softly fallen snow.

By the end of the week I was swimming without the rubber ring. I found swimming so easy to do and later joined a swimming club. My fear of water was held at bay so I could lead a fairly normal life after my abusive childhood.

The devil meant for me to sink, to give up, but God gave me the strength and will to survive and swim. With God we can do all things.
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Member Comments
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Date
Larry Whittington
12/09/16
An early "real life story" that might shock some who have not gone through or at least heard of similar such measures to control children in both foster homes and real homes.

I may be good to expose this kind of information so in some way some of this kind of action is hindered. It may never be eradicated.
Jan Ackerson
12/09/16
This is moving and inspirational, and I thank you for your transparency in sharing it.

My suggestion would be to organize it slightly differently--it jumps about in time, making it somewhat difficult to follow. If it was written in a more linear fashion--a timeline of your life, so to speak--it would build to a more effective climax and resolution.