Tuesday, June 22, 2004

The Pool

I love going to the pool. I grew up going to the pool, Montrose Swim Club. It was the best pool! It was huge. Two Olympic sized lap pools connected by a diving well, complete with a water slide, a high dive, and two low dives. A giant U shape of fun, and memories. If I am ever asked the question, "What's your favorite summer-time memory?" My answer is always, "The Pool!"

I can remember going to the pool when my brother was a toddler. That wouldn't seem like a big deal except for the fact that he'll be 21 in November. So, toddler time for him was a long time ago. My mom would pack us all up, we'd pile in the car, find a shady parking space and file into the pool. She'd pick a lounge chair near the baby pool so my brother could play, but also so we could easily access her in case of emergency. Or if we wanted her to play with us in the big pool, or feed us, or give us money to buy a snack at the snack bar. Can you say frozen Twix? Yum!

Being there all the time, we made lots of friends at the pool. Some of those friends I went on to graduate from high school with. Though we weren't close in high school, we always had the special bond of the pool. Some of the friends we made at school, we convinced to become members at the pool. One of those friends and I spent almost everyday of the week there, literally.

We would get up early each morning to check the latest weather report. We always needed to know if it would be a good pool day. For awhile my sister was head life guard and needed to be at the pool from 8am-9pm. Very early and very late in the day, it was too cold to swim, but we were there anyway, often in sweat shirts and jeans until it was warm enough to lay out.

Oh to have the time to just lay out again! We would lay there for hours,listening to the radio, talking, eating frozen Twix. The last time I had a tan was for my wedding. And it was a fake tan at that!

After laying out all day, sometimes we would stay later at the pool for a teen dance party. We made up our own dances, learned dances others made up. We made boyfriends and lost boyfriends. We had the time of our lives dancing, seeing all of our friends, being at the pool.

Sadly, Montrose Swim Club had to come to an end. There was a need for some
costly repairs and the Montrose area was booming with retail business. The club was sold, demolished, and the land is now home to a Swenson's. I guess it could be worse.

So, this summer, in more than 10 years, I am once again going to the pool. The family I nanny for belongs to a pool so I get to take the kids. We go usually three days a week. It is so much fun to sit by the side of the baby pool, watch the kids play and explore and make friends. What a gift! And to top it all off, this summer I might actually get a real tan.

1 Comments:

At October 04, 2005 9:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

well i've read almost the whole thing and have loved it all. we have a lot in common and a lot of the same great memories, then and now. i love you little sister and i'm so proud to see how much you love Jesus and your families.

 

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