Flashback: Alligator Lake

After our little scare at the beach last week, I have been reflecting on a memory where my own Mother must have felt a similar type of panic.  

I had just celebrated my fourth birthday and my brother was two at the time.  We lived in some small apartments in Florida.  It was a nice little complex which contained a private pool and was within walking distance to a lake complete with a wooden dock.  However, as in relatively common in Florida, the lake was home to a population of alligators. 

I used to watch them, holding very tightly to my Daddy's hand, as the alligators sunned themselves in a scaly row on the banks.  The dock did not have rails and I remember clutching Daddy's hand very tightly walking on that slightly swaying dock and looking into that murky water, fearing a misstep would make me a tasty meal.  My parents were always very clear that this lake was dangerous and I must never go there alone.  I was very cautious and more than a little scared of the lake and the alligators and had no intention of ever going near that lake without a trusted adult.

However, after my fourth birthday, I had been praised as being "such a big girl!" I really believed I had done all the growing I needed to be big enough to visit that lake by myself, just like an adult.  While I did fear the alligators, I was also aware that from a distance it was safe... and they were fascinating to watch.  

So one morning, I decided I would take my little brother with me to the lake- by ourselves, to watch the alligators--not on the dock of course, but from a safe distance in view of the bank.  At the time, child leashes were popular and my little brother had one.  I hooked him up to his leash and led him, toddling, to the lake, slipping out the front door quietly, some sense telling me my mom would not be a fan of my plan to go without her.

 Because it was mid-morning, many adults were at work and no one else was around. Miraculously, neither were the alligators. None were sunning themselves on the bank.  So we took a seat high up on the bank and waited, I holding the end of my brother's leash while he sucked on his pacifier.  

I'm not sure how much time passed, but we did not see any alligators.  We became bored and I decided it was time to head home. A few steps into our journey home, we crossed paths with my Mom, who was looking frantically for us and headed our direction.  

I was in enormous trouble.  I was scolded and disciplined. Not long after that, my Dad installed a latch high up on the door, one I could not even reach by standing on a chair.  Not long after that adventure, there was a news report on t.v about a young child who was a victim of an alligator attack while swimming with some older kids in a Florida lake (a different lake than ours).  Looking back, we were very fortunate that day.