My son went missing & his BRIGHT orange neon rash guard afforded us precious seconds - when seconds matter most.
There are some stories that demand to be shared—this is one of them.
During February break, my husband and I took our three children—twin boys, age five, and our 2.5-year-old daughter—on a winter adventure to the New Hampshire Ice Castles . To round out the trip, we stayed at a hotel with a small indoor water park, a seemingly perfect treat for our water-loving crew. But what started as a fun-filled family outing quickly turned into a moment that tested every ounce of our awareness and response.
Like any parent, I carry an underlying anxiety when my children are around water.
That concern, of course, runs even deeper when you’re a co-founder of a company committed to high visibility swimwear . So as always, we came prepared: my daughter wore our coral neon rash guard , one twin wore his yellow neon rash guard, and our more impulsive twin—who has a habit of eloping—was outfitted in our most visible piece: the orange neon rash guard .
As we entered the water park, we reviewed the rules with the kids. Two large slides emptied into a 3.5-foot-deep pool—strictly for sliding into and not for lingering. Adjacent to it was a shallow splash zone with toddler slides and a small kid-friendly slide. We emphasized that the deep pool was off-limits and far too dangerous for them.
Our more adventurous twin—let’s call him Twin 2—gravitated to the smaller slide. I supervised closely at first and felt comfortable when I saw a staff member stationed nearby. But as is often the case with three small children, the situation evolved quickly. Twin 1 scraped his knee on the textured pool bottom, and I momentarily turned my attention to tending his wound. My husband, meanwhile, was watching our daughter while trying to keep tabs on Twin 2.
Twin 2 on the kiddie slide in his bright orange neon rash guard.
Within seconds, Twin 2 had vanished. Panic surged. After a frantic scan, we spotted him—already halfway up the stairs to the large slides meant for kids over 48”. There was no lifeguard posted at the top, and no adult had stopped him. I shouted to alert the staff while my eyes searched desperately for the unmistakable flash of his neon rash guard .
My husband rushed to the base of the slides, prepared to jump in. We had no way of knowing which slide Twin 2 would choose. The air was thick with tension.
I watched each slide entrance with my heart in my throat—until I saw it: the unmistakable glow of our neon orange boys rash guard as he emerged from the open slide.
He hit the water and instantly began to struggle—thrashing, gasping, disoriented. He’s still learning to swim, and at 42”, he matched the pool’s depth—far too deep for him to safely stand or get to the edge. I screamed to my husband to dive in. He leapt in just in time and pulled our son to safety.
The moment he was in my arms, I was overwhelmed with emotion—relief, fear, and profound gratitude. That neon rash guard may very well have made the difference between tragedy and rescue. It allowed me to locate my son in the chaos and act in the critical seconds that mattered most.
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