If You Go Swim in the Blue Hole and Drown - (a True Story From My Childhood)

My grandmother (Mammaw) was the most loving grandparent that anyone could possibly have.

I never saw Mammaw angry; never heard her speak ill of anyone or criticize anyone; I never heard an unkind word from her, so you can imagine our surprise when her six grandchildren were all asking if they could go to the 'Blue Hole', Mammaw said "If you go down to the Blue Hole and drown, I'm going to give you a whipping. All six of us were laughing, Mammaw never hit anyone, but we respected her and we all assured her we would not drown.

Mammaw never hit (whipped) anyone, except years later when she was sweeping with a brush broom and my then husband was shooting a BB gun and he shot the mocking bird that would come within a few feet of her. Mammaw began hitting him with the brush broom.

It was a hot humid day and it must have been a Sunday because we didn't have to work in the fields and we kids had fed the animals, and now we were free to do whatever.

Mammaw reluctantly told us we could go, with stern warnings about watching for snakes and Mr. Brackens' bull.

Me, my brothers, Darrell and Tony, Cousins Lester, Shirley and Shelby headed out for the Blue Hole, about a half mile from the house. We walked down the dirt road toward the neighboring farm.

My grandparent's neighbor, Mr. Brackens had a big Brahma bull and sometimes he turned it loose in the pasture between the dirt road and the Blue Hole. We would have to cross the pasture if we wanted to take the short cut, but if the bull was in the pasture we would have to walk around the pasture along the fence line.

That particular day the bull was not there and we crawled under the barbed wire fence passed the persimmon trees and along the creek that fed into the Blue Hole.

I don't think we intended to go swimming, none of us had a bathing suit.

The Blue Hole was a pond where many people went swimming or fishing. It was on Mr. Brackens' farm and he let everyone know that he didn't mind who enjoyed it.

The Blue Hole seems smaller now that I am writing about it. But it seemed enormous at that time, with water so clear that you could see the fish in it and the blue sky gave it a blue hue. There was a huge flat rock at the deep end; it was used to dive off of. At the shallow end was sand and pea size gravel, and grass along the sides, which Mr. Brackens kept mowed.

I was squatting near the edge on one side watching the tadpoles and minnows.

I must have been hypnotized, because I don't remember hitting the water.

Then I was at the house and did not remember how I got there. Mammaw had been crying. I asked what happened, why was Mammaw crying.

I was told that Lester had said to my brother Tony, who was about four years old, "wouldn't it be funny to dump Shyron in the Blue Hole?" So my little brother came up behind me and dumped me into water. The other kids were all in a panic when I didn't come to the surface.

They told me, everyone talking at once, how Lester dived in and pulled me out and thinking I had drowned threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and took me to the house.

I think that was the last time we visited the Blue Hole. Nope! I have to take that back. I remember another time I was standing at the shallow end and looked down in the water at the tiny little snake with white streak around the mouth, when we told Mammaw about it, we were not allowed to go there anymore.