Dixie N.

At age 7, I was taking swimming lessons in the very deep, dark Lake Michigan. The swimming instructor was a teenage boy. It was our last lesson. He told us to swim out as far as you can, then stop, turn around in the water, and come back to shore. I was a good swimmer, so I kept going and going. I finally realized there were no other kids with me because I had swam so far out.

I stopped, turned around, stepped down and sunk. I kept sinking. My lungs filled with water. The water was very deep and dark. Suddenly, I was enveloped in a warm, loving light. It felt like caring arms around me. I woke up with the lifeguard pushing on my back. He was using the old-fashioned revival method of turning the victim on the stomach and pulling up on arms to push water out. The lifeguard begged me not to tell my mother or he’d be in big trouble. I promised and never talked about this incident until my second NDE at age 30.