Pool Benefits

Moving to our house with a pool was a straight up good idea. We have no regrets. I love swimming and floating every day that I can. But the very best thing I have gotten from having a pool is a new friend.

Our first summer here, I offered open pool Wednesdays to people I knew with kids. I so much wanted to share my good fortune with others. Several people came – a couple times it was even crowded, but as a few weeks went by, interest waned – except for one person I knew from school. I didn’t know her well, because most of our interaction came from me subbing for her – by definition, we were not together for that. We talked often the day before, or the day after, discussing the plan or how it went. There is not a lot of time in a middle school teacher’s day for chit chat, so while I would say I knew her, I didn’t really know her well. She brought her small boys to open pool day and was a consistent participant.

There is a lot more time chat during a pool day. We chatted. I got to know her more. Delightful. Open pool days ended after the first two years, because there wasn’t much interest. I encouraged my new out-of-school friend to keep coming. She did and her weekly visits were always high points. I love hearing her thoughts on the gazillions of topics we talk about while her boys bob around in the water (we do eventually get in with them, but chatting time comes first). During the deep dark winter of pandemic, she moved up north to a small town. Distance learning let her keep teaching in Woodbury. She kept coming swimming once/week last summer, making a day of coming to the “cities” to swim and visit her mom, and do other big town activities. She has come again this summer – although not many times because swimming lessons (the irony of swimming lessons keeping them from swimming is perfect, isn’t it?) kept them busy two weeks before our trip.

Keith and I saw this inflatable rocket over the weekend and had to get it for the boys. As expected, it was well received – the fun was primarily from trying to both get on at the same time (also as expected). The boys were just so little when this all started and now they are real people. The older one was a timid dude back in the day, with his little brother storming the way forward (oh, do they remind me of two boys who once lived at my house). They are both great at cannonballs now! I love thinking of that progression.

They have a “yes day” each summer. The boys are in charge of planning, and mom says yes as much as possible. The boys immediately agreed that coming to our house swimming was what they wanted to do on yes day. How sweet is that? I love it just so much.