This happened on the 7th, last Friday. It's also one of the reasons why I haven't been posting here - the other was my mom was visiting. She went back home yesterday; it was a weird Mother's Day for me.

My baby was tired of swimming, and I helped her out of the pool. I asked her to sit down, either next to grandma (my mom) or myself. Of course, she didn't. She's got this limitless energy about her, day in and day out.

It happened in an instant, just a second. Isn't that usually how tragedies happen, taking no more than a second, a mere blink of the eye? I remember taking a picture of my husband, who was hosing down some dirt from around the lanai, then there was screaming, and my husband wasn't standing anymore. Bryan shouted hysterically that Kiki was in the pool. She was within arms reach of me, but I didn't see her fall in. And she was swimming, the best she could, but she was under. Then, so was my husband. Instantly, I'm holding my son, who is shaking and screaming and had the most terrified look in his eyes. Mom was with me, helping calm down my boy. My sister was in total shock. At the age of nine, he son got a taste of what the loss of a loved one could feel like.

All this happened within a shutter release and the time it takes to set down the camera.

I didn't panic. No, not then. It all hit me later, a lot later. Yesterday.

I almost lost my baby girl.