So, I’m sitting at lunch yesterday with a couple potential clients.  One of them I’ve known for years.  The other, Amy, was just introduced to me yesterday.

In the midst of me trying to be clever and telling them an amusing anecdote about Orlando, Amy got this look on her face.  I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed, perturbed or incensed.  I thought my story was going over like a lead balloon.  Amy’s look suddenly switched to that of complete terror and I immediately thought, “OH CRAP!   ZOMBIE ATTACK!”

It was worse than I imagined.  Amy started violently heaving back and forth.  Immediately I thought, “OH CRAP!  ONE OF THOSE FACE-HUGGER ALIEN CREATURES IS GOING TO COME BURSTING OUT OF HER CHEST!”

Turns out Amy was choking.  Had I been paying attention, I would have noticed she was turning blue.   Really blue.  Smurf blue.

So I did what any good Boy Scout would do, I stood her up and gave her the Heimlich maneuver.  I did it without even thinking about it.   First pump got nothing.  The second pump, however, dislodged a piece of steak that flew daintily across the room.  I officially became a lifesaver.  I think Amy was more embarrassed than anything, but she survived – figuratively and literally.

I acted as if I’d been doing the Heimlich maneuver my whole life.  It was pretty surreal to watch it in action.  When she got back from the bathroom, I informed her that I also knew CPR if she wanted to keel over from a heart attack.  I don’t think she appreciated that.

The other client, Chip, also knows all the life-saving techniques I do — as we’re both trainers.  He seemed unfazed by the whole thing.   Once Amy left to go to the bathroom to regroup, Chip and I immediately resumed wolfing down lunch.  Chip looks up mid-bite and says, “So what were you saying about Orlando?”

Priceless.