I once wondered why Mother Teresa said, “Some people come into your life either as a blessing or a lesson.” This single phrase may seem cliché, but it helped transform how I view life.
Although it’s not every day someone comes into your life as a literal blessing or lesson in disguise, it does happen—and you don’t realize it until you really look back and see things for what they really were.
In spring 2024, my son took part in a respite care program hosted at a popular, local private school. Although it was only held on weekends and for a maximum of two hours, I was grateful! I finally had some time for myself.
It was his second day of drop-off, and we walked by a group of kids having swimming lessons. I saw my son’s attention fixed on them, and for that split moment, the whole world seemed to move in slow motion. I’m talking about the splashes they made, their laughter—everything just slowed down. My gut instantly churned with a bad feeling as I too stared at the pool, but I had to convince myself to snap out of it. His class was on the second floor after all; not to mention, it was about time I started trusting people with him.
That afternoon, I went to collect him from his session. I asked the facilitators how it went. One said, “Everything went fine,” and that they only had one small mishap with him. She said he eloped briefly because he saw the kids swimming and wanted to go inside the pool too. They shrugged it off, saying he was caught in time but got a bit wet, which is why he’s in a change of clothes.
I try my best not to be the radical or overprotective Mom—especially with my job title —so I brushed it off and didn’t start an interrogation session with them. As I got to my car, I glanced back at the kids continuing swim lessons and noticed a lady in a bathing suit running directly toward me.
She stopped me right before I got inside and asked, “Are you the mother of that kid?” Although my son isn’t aggressive toward other children, I know he’ll lose it if a kid takes away something he’s presently attached to— so the first thing that came to mind was, ‘I hope my son didn’t get into a scuffle with one of the kids.’
“Yeah, I am!” I answered, “Who are you?” She looked me dead in the eyes, placed her hand on her head, then took a deep breath. My curiosity instantly went out of whack. I immediately thought of a hefty hospital bill. I watched carefully as she looked over her shoulder, and then she whispered,
“I’m Lisa, swim instructor of that program, and I had to bring your son up from the bottom of that pool, twice today!
And so yeah, I got that feeling again—and this time, my soul briefly left my body.
Then she said something I never thought I’d hear again. “You have a serious task on your hands, Miss.”
The familiar statement sank my little heart and once again turned my gut into a knot. Déjà vu!
I’d heard these exact words before! The first time was at the hospital. The MRI Tech conducting my son’s evaluation came to the door of the waiting room they had placed me in and just stared at me.
I immediately panicked and started yelling, “What happened to my child?” She took a deep breath and then calmly informed me that my 2-year-old had overpowered the anesthesia dosage administered and woke up in the middle of his MRI while still in the machine! She said they’ve never seen anything like it before. And then she said it…. “Miss, you have a serious task on your hands!”
Lisa said, “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but his obsession with water is going to be an issue at some point in his life– if you don’t teach him to swim early.”
We spoke for a bit; she said she was willing to teach him, and I couldn’t stop thanking her.
I never did place him in swim classes that summer. Lisa passed away that October—literally a few months after she saved my kid’s life twice in one day. I didn’t learn of her passing until sometime in 2025.
I’m pretty sure she’s saved countless people in her lifetime, and her selfless act may have seemed small, but it was anything but!
I drafted this blog and public thanks from when I learned of her death, but life kept getting in the way of publishing it.
In early July of this year, while cleaning out a small pocket in my car, I found the business card she gave me after we hugged, and it hit me. Although we met once, that is what Mother Teresa meant when she said people come into your life either as a blessing or a lesson, even if it’s brief. Sometimes you don’t realize it until you look back and see it for what it really was.
Everyone on this planet has a purpose. Some of us take years, and sometimes decades, to find out and understand it. Her passion and dedication to water safety in The Bahamas were more than a gift; they were her purpose. A purpose she understood, upheld, and executed until she left us.
To Lisa
After finding your business card, I did put my kid in swim lessons this summer. I know you only met us once, but if you were here, I’m sure you’d be glad to know that he can hold his little breath underwater briefly, and he even believes he can dive. He has a long way to go, but we’ll get there. I can’t shake the feeling that putting him in swim lessons after finding your business card this summer, may have saved his life again. So thank you, again!
In Loving Memory of Lisa Jane Nixon—I’ll be sure he never forgets you!
