Finally, we pulled into the parking lot, it was packed, my mom is doing a lot of neck craning to pull the car in, we knew she meant the business with this move, everyone pulled their shit together for a minute. I stood on the pavement, I could feel my feet sliding around inside of my shoes as I held onto my little brother watching my mom grab the big bag of stuff, my older brother already far ahead of us with his friends. There is a preferred patch of grass that I know she is going to want, praise be it’s available. We are supposed to stay close to where my mom is sitting or we are “leaving”. This was the YMCA pool and it seemed like an ocean to me, or part of one. I really had no experience with ocean swimming, I did watch a lot of Nova on PBS.
My main goal was to make sure I did my required time in her eyeline then get to my coveted area. Listen, I am not sure what did or did not happen but the bottom of this pool felt like maybe it needed a lot of sanding, or some kind of final step was missed. I was thrilled, I mean it was this or the sprinkler in our yard but after a while here your feet started to grate off on the bottom.
This ocean pool was chopped into a few areas and for some reason my area, well the majority of this pool was not that smooth blue you expect in a swimming pool. My experience was fairly limited here as well.
My brother spent his time diving and canon balling off what looked to be the size of a large office building and then you had to swim right out of the blue area to avoid someone landing on you so that was a pass. The only other blue was the baby and mom area. Sorry, I came here to relax. There was one area that was sort of a no man’s land that seemed to have somehow not been designated or finished. Again, these pool plans seemed like on the final day someone one important quit. Anyway, I desperately needed to be in that area of the pool.
I don’t really know what my point was because I mostly just floated once I made it over there so the feet grating was a non-issue, my best friend was usually with me so sure penny diving was a little smoother on the knuckles, staring contests slightly clearer but mostly I felt like I was on my own little island over there. I would make the long swim back wondering why in the hell they didn’t paint the whole pool blue.
Every time we walked in, I was always a little relieved they hadn’t …
👏🏊♀️ brings back lots of memories! Living on an Air Force base we kids walked to the pool, so less parents around. Sidewalk was so hot on our bare feet we had to throw down our towels ahead and walk that way.
This story provokes so many memories growing up. It really did feel like someone important left in the final days of construction. I’m still good friends with a few girls from the swimming lessons we had together at our community pool. I was in love with each one of them. It was like the universe knew we needed each other through out our lives and put us together there. It was a magical place. I enjoy reading your stories so much they always give that same kind of magical experience. ✨💫