A Day at the Pool

The family spent a few hours at the neighborhood pool this afternoon. I normally prefer the pool later in the summer, when the water has had a couple months to warm up. The water today was still too cool, and it took several minutes for my body to acclimate to the temperature, but once used to the water, it was just fine.

The pool wasn’t too crowded today. Everyone there was part of a family: moms, dads, and young children. Usually there’s a few teenagers or college kids, and maybe some single folks, too. The only teenagers today, though, were the two lifeguard girls.

Interestingly, one of the lifeguards was an albino. This is only noteworthy because usually lifeguards have tanned skin from their time around the pool, but this girl was very pale, with white hair and eyebrows. She just kind of stood out from what you’d expect to see in the lifeguard chair.

Kids absolutely love swimming pools. They play with such excitement and exuberance. I remember loving the pool in my neighborhood, growing up. My wife’s family had a pool in their backyard. We both have fond memories of afternoons splashing around and playing in the water. We never realized just how exhausting the activity could be for our parents. You can’t take your eyes off children for a minute, and the only thing more fun for them than playing in the pool is playing in the pool with mom and/or dad.

There was one little girl, maybe four or five years old, who kept coming to me and literally wrapping herself around me and climbing up on me. She saw me throw my son up in the air and let him splash down in the water, and she wanted me to do the same for her. I didn’t know this girl, had never seen this girl, and didn’t know her parents.

I asked her where her parents were and she explained that her mom was not there, and her dad was not dressed for the pool. She pointed to her dad, sitting and daydreaming at the exact opposite end of the pool. She was playing in the shallow end, where all the other young children were, and he was sitting over next to the deep end. I tried to explain to her that only her mom or dad could throw her up like I was doing, and I even stopped the play with my son. But she was insistent. She was polite, and sweet, but she really wanted to play.

It was an uncomfortable position for a man to be in. I was fending off this little girl with one arm and holding one of my boys with the other. She kept wrapping herself around my arm and trying to climb up closer to me. Never once did I see her father so much as look over at us. I eventually convinced her that I wasn’t going to pick her up, and I got her off of me without being mean, but she came back a while later. I again managed to talk her away from me.

If I knew the little girl, or at least knew her dad, I wouldn’t have had any problem with playing with her. But it’s real uncomfortable to have an unknown girl so all over me in a pool. What would her father have thought and said if he saw me manhandling his little girl like I was playing with my boys? What would anyone have said if she got hurt? What kind of trouble could I have been in if someone made accusations?

Anyway, other than that situation, the pool day was fun. I got to dive and swim in the deep end during breaks for the kiddies, and we ordered pizza delivered to the pool at the end of our stay. It was a pretty good day. Now I smell like chlorine, my hair is dried all funky, and both boys, and the wife, fell asleep almost immediately.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com