A Mommy Blog About Raising Men, Not Boys.
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Saturday, July 18, 2009

What Does Joy Look Like?

I think that it looks something like this. It's nearly been one year since I signed a stack of papers that made this pink house ours. And in that year, we've spent a fortune trying to get the pool working.
I suspect that if you BUY a pool it comes with instructions, maybe even some sort of cursory training. But if you buy a house which COMES WITH a pool.......well then, the training you get is "There are some chemicals in the shed."
For one year we've added chemicals, fixed things, added more chemicals, cleaned it.......and when I say WE I mean THE HUSBAND.
There was the great tadpole extinction of '09 where we had to kill literally thousands of tadpoles that had decided to grow in it - because in our ignorance we hadn't kept enough chemical in it. There have been trips to the pool shop and HELL even a pool GUY came out.
The pool has been, in short, a feckin nightmare.

Everything changed this evening, when it went from a blight to a luxury.......when we stepped into it's water and discovered that THIS was what owning a pool was like.


Suddenly it occured to us what it means, the luxury of it - the sheer pleasure of swimming had us all a little giddy I'm afraid. We have a pool. We can swim every day if we want. We can swim ANY day if we want. Or night.

Suddenly this house just became an even better bargain.





And in the water, my hips don't hurt, my feet don't hurt......my aches and pains that seem to be chronic just vanish. Part of me would like to smack the previous owners for not giving us better information on how to make the pool work. But based on some of the nonsense that they did around my house (ask me about the sparkles embedded in the textured walls of my kitchen) I suspect asking them would not be the best plan.

Is it silly or primal the comfort that you get in a pool of water? We've all just been in this ecstatic place all evening - planning the LONGER swimming session tomorrow. I thought the kids would drop straight off but they're giggling in their room. One has been giggling forever, something like a joyous cackle that he can't turn off.

I guess he had a good time swimming too.

2 comments:

Isabeau said...

It's not silly at all. I always longed for access to a pool, and once I had back surgery, that longing became almost a need.

During my recovery from surgery I did water therapy, and it was a huge relief. Isn't it wonderful how much pain goes away when you're 80% buoyant? (For example, if a 200 lb. person gets into a pool, a whopping 160 lbs. of pressure is taken off of their back, knees, etc.) It's amazing and freeing.

I've been in this apartment complex for a month and today is the first time I ventured into the pool. Once I got in, my body remembered how flexible it could be when it's virtually weightless. I think I remembered all of my physical therapy exercises. The stretching felt good, and if I keep it up, it will help reduce my pain.

When you're in the pool, try to stretch a bit. Pools are great for a variety of things (not just physical therapy.) They've been known to help those who suffer from depression, arthritis, and a lot of other things.

I'm all rambly and stuff, so I'll just say that I'm glad you got your pool working and that you enjoy it. May you have many more days of beautiful weather and pool enjoyment!

Emma said...

but that glitter paint in the kitchen has so much CHARACTER!