Up the Family Tree

Let’s Go Swimming
by Judy

“Mom, have you seen my swimsuit?” my older daughter called from her room.
 “No, maybe it’s still in the car from last week. Did you bring it in the house?” I asked.

“Uh, well, maybe, I’ll check,” she answered on her way to the garage.

She soon returned. Her outstretched arm held a beach towel neatly rolled around her hot, damp swimsuit. It didn’t take long for mildew and mustiness to overcome chlorine. 

As a young mother I spent many afternoons at the pool with my children. Preparing for the outing was not easy. Eventually, though, we had the beach balls, toy boats, towels, air mattresses, bags of chips, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (not a good choice by the way), the water jug and paper cups gathered. We were ready for a fun afternoon at the pool. Usually we made a trip to the house for keys to the car. After a final trip back into the house for one or more children to use the bathroom, we were on our way.

A highlight of the afternoon was the fifteen minute lifeguard break.
“Mom, I don’t like this kind of chips. Can I have Nachos from the concession stand?”

“Mom, it was an accident, it really was. I didn’t mean to tip the water jug over. We could get pop from the concession stand.”

Until my children could swim I encouraged them to stay in the “kiddie” pool. My youngest was not always happy in the “kiddie” pool.

“Can I go to the big pool, please?”

“No,” I answered. “You can barely touch the bottom at the shallow end.”  I was at the best part of my book and didn’t want to watch him in the big pool.

“Mom, there’s something brown in the kiddie pool,” my younger son said.

“Sure, go ahead, play in the big pool for a while,” I said.

After an afternoon at the pool, the children were exhausted. They were happy with sandwiches for dinner. They were content to watch television, and they were ready to go to bed early. Once the children were older they were involved in summer ball, and there weren’t as many fun afternoons at the pool.

Still, there is nothing quite like jumping into a swimming pool on a hot, summer day…or so I am told. I spent afternoon after afternoon sweating by the side of the pool as each of my children jumped in time after time. Yet, I seldom got in the water. Instead, I stained page after page of book after book with sun screen as I occasionally glanced toward the water.

And now?  Well, yes, each of my children can outswim me.