How my phone took a swim

Or why there wasn't much mobile blogging going on during our trip to WDW last week.

This will most definitely be a photo-less post, considering that my phone wasn't in any kind of working order during or even after the ordeal.

Let your imaginations drift away to this relaxing scene...

A nice evening spent with friends by the pool.

Sounds nice, right? Well, it started out nicely, anyway. :)

Robin, Christa, Meg, and I were sitting at a table chatting, and Miss Renee was swimming with some other vacationing little girls. I was watching them closely, especially because the sisters were fighting back and forth with one another and then screaming at their father. That last part didn't give me the warm fuzzies, but Renee seemed to be handling the situation. I didn't feel the need to step in at that moment, but I had my eye on them.

I also had both eyes glued on Renee because she isn't the strongest swimmer. She is learning to be more comfortable in the water, but she still has a healthy respect for it. If she wants to head into the deeper water, she knows that she needs to put her life vest on if Mark and I aren't in the pool with her.

No exceptions.

As I continued to oversee their interactions, I watched Renee ask if she could use one of the sister's boogie boards. At first the little girl didn't seem to want to share, but then she smiled and handed it over to Renee. After that breakthrough, they even began to share the board. Maybe the sisters weren't so terrible after all.

Nope...I couldn't have been more wrong about that. The Mom in me had a gut feeling about their sincerity towards Renee, and I should have listened more closely to my instincts.

In one of those 'I can't believe this is really happening moments', I saw the little girl pull the boogie board away from Renee. Now that I've had some time to think about it, I truly believe that Renee could have 'doggy paddled' over to the side. Sadly, panic ruled during this scenario. If I was put into the same situation at her age, I'm sure that I would have reacted in the same way.

As I began to run towards her (in what felt like slow motion), I watched her floundering in the water. The only thing I remember thinking was that I had to get to her, and that my sneakers were still on my feet.

That was it.

It didn't cross my mind that I was fully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, or that I had a phone in my pocket.

My only concern was getting to Renee.

The moment I grabbed her, we both began to cry. Yup...a very scary and quite emotional moment.

As I walked out of the pool still holding Renee in my arms, Christa told me to give her the phone.

Oh...my...Goodness.

My phone was still in my pocket, and it had just played Life Guard with me!

I have to admit that I really hadn't had much experience in what to do if your phone takes a swim. It never really crossed my mind, considering the fact that I usually don't jump in the pool fully clothed. It's not something that we should do...someone designed bikinis for that years ago!

And...if it wasn't for Christa's tech knowledge, I think my phone would have been fried.

A side note...I don't think that Christa jumped into a pool fully clothed with her phone in her pocket to earn this knowledge. I'd like to think that she's just like a Girl Scout...she likes to be prepared.

;)

After following her instructions to dry out the phone overnight, the next day I took the chance and put the battery back in.

At first it didn't power up.

I sort of panicked a little right then. This was my first new phone in over four years, and I hadn't even had this phone for a year yet! I knew that if it was dead, I would have to pay full price to replace it. Eeeek!

After taking a deep breath, I figured that maybe I should try to recharge my battery. What did I have to lose?

When I saw the screen light up, I began to do the happy dance.

Please don't judge about the dance. It may have looked funny, but I probably looked more ridiculous after jumping in the pool fully clothed!

After successfully making a few calls and sending some text messages, I knew I had been very lucky.

Not only was I lucky that my phone was still functioning, but I was extremely lucky that Renee was fine. She was safe, and even after that frightening experience, she managed to face her fear head on and went back into the pool. You know the old saying...You fall off, you get right back on!

Unfortunately, although I was able to call and text, my screen and phone were severely water logged. I tried to take a photo from our balcony at Saratoga Springs, and it looked as though it was taken underwater.

I didn't post that one-LOL!

A few days later, before we were to leave for home, I decided to try again. When I sent the photo, the subject of my post questioned if the picture was 'water marked'. That was just a little 'dry humor' on my part.

Said to self...Oh my. That was a really terrible joke, wasn't it?

And Tink, being the goddess she is in sharing her photo blogging knowledge, really tried to answer the question.

Sorry, Tink! Next time I promise to warn you when I am trying to be comedic.

;)

My phone seems much better today. I didn't notice much water left in the screen during the Father's Day photos I took yesterday, so hopefully we'll be back up and running.

But sadly, there seems to be a little situation that has come to my attention after this experience. Because I was paying very close attention to the photos, I have started to notice that the quality of the photos from my phone is sort of grainy.

Hmmmm...maybe the phone taking a swim was even more terrible than I originally thought it was.

Now, I'm contemplating the idea that it would be really cool to have a phone that takes great photos.

If I take the plunge (That, again, was a really bad joke!), please remind me to take the phone out of my pocket while I am sitting by the pool, okay?