My floral bathing suit and golden life jacket were on; I was ready for the day. The West Edmonton Water Park had been waiting for me a long time and now I had finally arrived. A river ran down the twirling slides, the water soaked families trotted by me with their duck feet slapping on the cement and broad smiles on their faces. I couldn’t wait for my chance to pretend I was a dolphin leaping over the tides of the ocean. With high hopes, I entered the wave pool.

The yellow tubes were like decorated donuts floating in a pot of grease, all of them bumping and spiraling into one another. My mother held one of my hands and my cousin the other. As we walked through the shallow pool, blue waves engulfed laughing children.

The waves fighting against us were a thrill that pushed us further into the hefty wave pool. We were soon surrounded by the yellow rubber tubes. Until one massive wave came, bigger than all the others. It loomed over us threatening to smother us if we moved or breathed. We just had enough time to spot the wave before it trampled over us. When I tried to remerge from under the water, I ran into a bright colored tube that blocked me from the surface. I pushed, shoved and flailed around in the water but to no success.

On top of the water my mother noticed a large man in a tube beside her where her daughter should be. She struggled to move the tube but it wouldn’t budge. The wave pool was bursting with tubes and not one inch could be spared. My mom shouted to my cousin who was still bobbing unaware in the water, to let go of my hand. She did so and my mother pulled me up on her side. I merged from the water delighted to be breathing again. My mother’s worried look was soon replaced by relief to see her daughter alive and well. We retreated to a safer area where we played out the remainder of our experience away from the yellow rubber donuts.