Day 86- June 6, 2020

Day 86- June 6, 2020

Elizabeth is VERY excited to be going to Nana's pool.
Marigold the unicorn, not so much.

The pool is officially open!  This is traditionally the BEST day of the year.  When I was younger, all winter, the cover would be partially submerged in water, ice, and leaves, and most of that would end up in the deep end upon opening.  There were weights holding the edges of the cover out of the pool, but as soon as those were removed, everything would fall in.  Eventually, covers became better made, and were more of a mesh-like substance, suspended by taught springs, but still, there would be stuff that would fall in during opening, and it would take weeks of scooping out gunk, using a vacuum to reach the darkest crevices of the pool liner, and putting obscene amounts of chemicals into the pool before we could swim.

But a few years ago, my mom switched pool companies, and now, the pool gets opened on Tuesday, and here we are on Saturday, all set to swim in clear water. I don't know what is so different, what technique is used, but I'm grateful.  Our pool out back is wonderful- but it's freezing.  My mom has been known to keep hers at a balmy 89 degrees (I once suggested adding a hot tub, since she hates cold water, but she thought that might be overkill).

The girls were extremely excited, and packed the car with Marigold and Pinky the Flamingo (two pool toys that apparently need to travel with us).  R. also brought Elizabeth, her American Girl Doll, who apparently wanted to go swimming, but I explained could not due to something we call "mold" that grows in dolls that aren't supposed to get wet and thus can't drain well.

R. and E. couldn't wait to jump in, and of course, had to have their photos taken as they lept off the diving board into the water.  It brings back so many memories when I see my kids enjoying swimming.  It was one of my favorite activities as a child, and I would stay in until my teeth chattered and my hair was perfumed with chlorine.  I mentioned to Jeff that the first days of swimming always remind me of one of our first times hanging out together, when he asked me to help him study for our French 3 final, and instead, we ended up swimming with three of our friends in the pool for most of the afternoon.



I got to spend some quality time reading while the girls splashed around, and practiced jumping and diving.  We did some slow motion videos as well, of course, because that's the best way to see how high splashes go (and it's fun to hear your voice in slo-mo).

The most exciting thing to happen today, though, was that R. got to hug her Nana for the first time in three months.  Mom was wearing a mask, and with the chlorine, we decided this was going to be the best, most sanitary time for a hug that we've had.  So Nana sat on the edge of the shallow end stairs, R. climbed out of the water, hugger her, and then dove back in.  R. was crying, and so was my mom (and so was I).  It's incredible how something we normally take for granted- a simple act that reminds the people around us how much we love them- can mean so much.