Hey There!
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As a mother of two, one here and one no longer with us, I've quickly realized that time is the most valuable thing we all share. Living intentionally can be difficult, because as you may know, it takes a large sum of patience, change, and sacrifice.
I have been in retail/sales most of my life, but it rarely interested me what or how much I sold. Instead, the opportunity to take part in building and being amongst a good community was what motivated me most; it's always community over competition for me. When I realized retail was not an intentional part of my life, it was easy to let go of what I had created as a career. I never thought that I would be in this realm of aquatics, especially after losing Harley. Something I never get tired of saying is how thankful I am that God leads me where he needs me, along with giving me such a loving family and strong support system!
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I'm very happy that I get to share my knowledge and experience as a swim instructor with your family.
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Thank you for being part of my community,
Liz Valencia-Burkham
My Full Story
On July 7th of 2018, my life changed forever. My son was 20 months. I chose to keep the above ground pool covered that year to avoid the expense and maintenance on it, not realizing it could still remain a danger. I would have never imagined how much more my son needed from me to keep him safe from that pool.
After playing and saying goodbye to family for the day, I took my son Harley inside to run his bath before bed. I gave Harley some milk and left him in the living room to play. When I returned shortly after, I realized he was not where I left him. My heart dropped when I noticed the back door was open. Running outside, I saw him in the pool and jumped in after him. I will never forget my neighbor standing on the deck, yelling our street name over the phone, helping us out of the water that had collected on the covered pool.
That was Harley’s second summer with his second birthday right around the corner. There was so much more planned, and more that I had hoped for him to experience. Within minutes, all that I had imagined for him vanished. I remember giving God an ultimatum kind of prayer; to give me Harley back or to lead me through what was to come.
Fast forward to early 2023, I had been married three years, and Harley had a one year old sister, Laila. Having Laila gave an entire new set of worries, and brought up old ones as well. I had always told myself to prioritize survival swim lessons. So when I had the opportunity to fly back to Oklahoma and have Laila complete her lessons with Darcey of Swimmin Safe, I jumped on it!
After two weeks of lessons daily, I was able to see Laila's lack of skill in the water progress into a float and swim. The fear I had of seeing her in the water was overpowered by the pride I had in her learning a new and life saving skill. Watching her build and execute a task every lesson was both an emotional and tranquil experience.
Darcey working with my daughter opened up my eyes to a new opportunity I could give to other families. She connected me with Joy and Maureen, owners of Southwest Aquatics and PediaSwim in Florida. By July of 2023, I was out training in Florida for a month. By August I completed my training, and received my certification as a PediaSwim instructor.
I will always carry a "what if" over Harley's death.
What if we didn't have a pool?
What if I had been aware of the drowning statistics?
What if I had heard of the 5 barriers of protection?
What if I had put him through self rescue swim lessons...
The last question is the most difficult.
Drowning IS preventable and I picture life entirely different if Harley had the skills to save himself in that water.
