My Hero!

It is going to be a very busy day....it is my dad's 60th b-day and my mom is throwing him a HUGE party!
But although it is my dad's b-day..it is a day that will ALWAYS be in my mind! I will post another blog to explain this further...but I had moved into my parents 'pool house' just a little of a month before this situation.
My daughter and I moved into my parents pool house after an abrupt situation that happened to her father and I. It was so hard to go back home! Thank goodness for the pool house. Even though I was miserable of the fact that I had to turn back to my parents, living in the pool house wasn't all that bad. I love the sun, and I love the pool! I had a very stressful job at that time. I had to get up at 4-430am at the latest. My job started at 6 am...had to be there in my office on the DOT...(I worked in a prison...so it took at least 15 minutes to get thru all the gates...on a GOOD DAY) btw..that will be another blog
My daughter was a fish from the day I put her in the pool...at just a few wee months old...
When we first moved to the pool house she was almost 3 years old. We made it a ritual habit, her and I after work...to go straight to the pool.
It was a closed in an enclosure..with only two doors to get in that are locked at all times
on June 16th 2005, (my dad's birthday). The only time we unlocked the enclosure was when we knew we were going to get right in. I had gotten the key early from my parents, and unlocked the doors (naive that my little girl could not open the doors). They were very hard to open!
I did it. After doing so....she was playing with the animals on the porch as she always did. I walked back into the pool house..went to the freezer got an easy meal out..cause I was so tired I didn't feel like cooking....popped it into the microwave..walked back out the door. And saw one of the doors to the enclosure open!! Naturally I looked into the pool...and saw nothing!
I heard my parents pulling out of the driveway*my parents have a very big house*..I ran out to the drive way to make sure she didn't follow them (so many times situations like this has happened and children have been run over*. I did not see her. I ran all the way back around the house looking for her. To find her in the pool (purple, blue and bloated). The first time I looked...she was already there...but she did not fall in, she went willingly in...but just could not get out (she could swim back and forth with guidance...but no one this time was there to help). And the angle that I was looking the first time (this is an inground pool) I just did not see her!
As far as I was concerned, my little girl was dead!
Well, she is not! She is live and well! This moment in time was a total wake up call. She did spend a whole 2 nights and 3 days in the hospital. Only cause she suffered from asphyxiated phnemonia (I know that spelling is not correct).
June 16 will always set in my mind. Not as a day to regret..but a day that made me realize HOW important life really is! Again, I am not looking for pity. She is here all blue eyed and going strong (will be 4 on the 24th of this month)
But this little girl showed me a true fighter. A fighter and strong willed person..that I will always be! And I can't wait for ya'll to meet her. She will blow you away! I really never understood the 3 going on 20 until I met her!
Her name is Kaleigh Bankston....and she is my HERO! (just sometimes I want her to follow the listening art of life...lol)



Jennifer Sasser
478-338-2469