The "You Know You'll Drown If You Don't Wait! Story

Brookside's dual swimming pools in Manheim Township.

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished lunch at Brookside Swimming Pool along Harrisburg Pike in Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania.  My mother would often take my brother, Steve, and I swimming in the summer months at Brookside, and after eating we were made to sit and wait an hour before we got back in the pool.  "You'll drown if you don't wait an hour!" she would tell us.  And...I believed her.  Not sure if my brother did, but he didn't listen to most of what she told him anyway.  Summer vacation was usually a week or two at Crystal Beach in Maryland.  We would share a cottage with my Aunt Lillian and my two cousins, Judy and Georgie.  And...once again, after eating lunch on the beach, we all had to wait an hour before we jumped back in he river.  We were always told that if you didn't wait an hour for your food to digest you might drown.  And...I actually believed that!  

A day at Crystal Beach.  Left-right: My Aunt Lois who was my mother's sister who
was only a year older than me, cousin Judy, cousin George, me standing next
 to my mom, Mom and my brother Steve.  The beach is on the upper
Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Elk River.

So, is there any truth to the myth that you have to wait an hour before getting back in the water?  Hey, in 1908 the Boy Scout Handbook had a section in it warning scouts to not go swimming for at least 90 minutes after eating.  It read, "If you did end up drowning after eating, it would be your own fault."  Actually said that!!  Must have scared the crap out of scouts for years until they wrote another Scout Handbook.  So, did you believe you had to wait an hour after eating?  Seems that most of us who grew up in the 40s, 50s and even the 60s believed the One Rule of Summer: Thou shalt not swim for exactly one hour after eating.  When I got married in 1967 my wife Carol told me that throughout her childhood, so also was told not to swim for an hour after eating.  So, we told our children the same thing...until we began to hear otherwise.  Seems that after eating, blood is sent to the digestive tract to help in the digestion of your food.  Without enough blood flowing to your arms and legs it may be tougher to stay above water.  So, would you drown in that case?  Nah, you may get a cramp, but you're not going to drown.  Seems it's been a myth for ages.  A couple of years ago Carol and I made a visit to my brother and his wife, Kathy, who live in nearby Ephrata, PA.  They had just put a new pool in their backyard and were having a picnic to celebrate.  Their children and grandchildren were there along with Carol and myself.  We swam for an hour or so and then had a great meal of burgers, chicken corn soup and Carol's famous Wacky Cake.  Wasn't more than 2 minutes after the kids had finished that they jumped back in the pool.  I yelled to my brother to get them out of the pool so they wouldn't drown.  "Nah, they won't drown.  I never did when I went in the river years and years ago at Crystal Beach.  He knew I was joking when he saw the big smile on my face.  Some myths will never go away!  But, that's OK, since it makes good fodder for stories. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Another neat aerial photograph of Brookside's Twin Pools