6.13.2006

Summer Swim

"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken." ~James Dent

Summer break is officially here! And, in keeping with tradition, we kick it off every year with the start of swimming lessons!

Who remembers the Ranchette Estates swimming pool? Well, that is where we go for lessons each morning. It's the same pool I swam in as a kid and teenager. Day after day we would ride our bikes there to cool off and to swim until we were exhausted. It's the same pool where we used to play "Shark" and "Marco Polo". The same pool where I would dive off the diving board time after time. First a jack-knife, then a front one and a half flip, then a back flip... Anything I could try with lots of air. I loved that! (sadly, as I've gotten older or maybe it's because I've become a mom, I get butterflies where jumping and height go hand in hand). Same pool where our family would go sometimes and swim warm nights by pool light. Same pool where my boyfriend had a job locking and closing it up for the night in summers.
These memories made me smile today as I sat on the warm poolside pavement, the smell of chlorine filling my nose, and the sound of splashing and laughter in the air. Monkey B ended his lesson with a springy cannonball, and Monkey A a sensible dive.
We walked out the front gate laughing and chatting about the joys of swimming and summer.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for bringing such wonderful memories back, sweetie! Sounds like you had a rough childhood...haha! Thank you for filling our "raising the kids" days with so many smiles and so much laughter, Shell. We had a great time with our children and still do. They are so amazing and the grandkids?...well, that could take hours. Talk about lucky.
MOM

Krista said...

HI! I still call out as we pass, "Hey, kids, that's where I swam when I was a kid!" Of course, by now, they respond, "Ok, Mom, we know." But it was a great place!!!