I Have a Dream

Dear Kiddnation-

I really suck at asking people to help me. I’m pretty great at getting help for anyone else who needs it, but this asking for me is hard. But I need to do it to reach my goal. So here goes nothing.

Many of you have been in my life since I was 17-years old. I’ve been with this show for half of my life now. In that time we’ve been through so much together. So many highs and, unfortunately, so many lows. Through it all, though, we’ve found a way to unite and come out on the other side

There’s been one big issue in my life that I’ve yet to come out on the other side of. I’m still working through it, but time doesn’t ease this pain. I won’t get into all of it again because I can’t properly explain my feelings without getting upset. Like guttural crying upset. In a nutshell, I’m still not over losing my nephew, Ethan, in a drowning accident in 2011.

I’ve said for several years now that I want to somehow make sure that other people never know the pain of losing a child in a drowning accident. I’ve had no real plan of action, though. That has changed dramatically over the past week.

I did a Q & A call with the Infant Swimming Resource expansion people on Thursday. That call turned into an unplanned interview and I guess I nailed it. On Friday they called and told me that the team loved me and was excited to invite me aboard. They sent me the contracts I needed to sign and, as of yesterday, I have committed in writing to becoming an ISR instructor.

Most of you probably don’t know what ISR training is. It’s basically training kids who are 6 months old to 6 years old how to survive if they fall into water. I take my nephew, Jake, to these lessons five days a week and the change I’ve witnessed in him is remarkable. It’s so remarkable that I want to help others witness that same change in their kids.

I am ecstatic about this opportunity. It’s my dream come true. It allows me to directly help kids survive a water accident.

If everything works out I will start training in August. It’s a 6-8 week course…done 1 on 1 with a master trainer.

Once I finish my training and pass my certification test I will be free to offer these lessons…both free on scholarship and with tuition. I am really excited about the ISR organization because they encourage their trainers to pay it forward by offering classes to kids from families who cannot pay for them. They have even offered me the Pay It Forward scholarship! That means that I am legally obligated to give lessons to 10 kids who could not pay for them during the first two years of my certification. How awesome is that?

Here’s the thing, though. I need help with this. This training isn’t free. Like I said in the Stuff With Shanon podcast, I will be trained one on one with a master instructor. Training me will be this person’s job from the minute I start classes until the minute I get my certification. Believe me when I say that not many people have the skills required to teach me what I need to know to become an ISR instructor, so the one person in my area that can teach me deserves to get paid for it.

 I hope that I make you guys proud in doing this. I promise not to beat you over the head with water safety tips and stuff like that. I will continue to talk and post about random Psycho Shanon nonsense and I’ll occasionally throw in some updates on this journey.

As it is right now all I need to do is pay my tuition and I’ll be ready to start my training as soon as possible.

So, if you’re able to help contribute to my journey, I seriously appreciate you. If you can’t do that, maybe you could consider sharing the link so that other people will. I’m truly grateful for anything you choose to do in helping this dream become a reality for me.

Here's the link.

www.gofundme.com/shanon

Thanks so much everyone.

Love,

Shanon