You may have a wicked tan, but your job is hella hard: Your Letters to the Editor for August 4

Austin Goldhammer is a lifeguard at Terrace Park Family Aquatic Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., Monday, June 8, 2015. (Photo: Emily Spartz Weerheim / Argus Leader) Letters to the Editor for August 4: Have you thanked a lifeguard today? My four kids and I have been to pools at least 30 times this summer without an incident other than a "hey sweetie" or a "walk buddy" floating over the loud chatter of joy and splashing. I love going to all the pools and we have settled on a few favorites, but I love knowing that wherever we go my kids are safe. Over the summer months and the 15 bottles of sunscreen, I became immune to the clockwork rotation of the lifeguards while I updated my status, caught some rays or called up with an old friend. Somehow the trip to the pool became routine and an every other day experience. Fast forward to a hot, sunny Saturday in July and the pool is packed. There seems to be five kids for every adult and a small army of lifeguards on their clockwork rotation. My kids are slathered in SPF 50 and I found a shady spot, when rapid whistles sounded the alarm. Enter Hollywood slow-motion effects as the lifeguard leaps from her stand and through a sea of children, reaches and grabs a little boy who emerges coughing, shaken and scared now sitting on the edge of the pool. It was that fast. In that moment everything seemed to go mute and the swimsuit troops swooped in. Within a few moments that boy was okay and it was back to the clockwork rotation. But I was in awe, my heart was racing and I felt nauseous. What if that was my little boy? I mean, I had a […]

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