Why I love my pool:•What is it that draws a person to the movement of water? Just watching it flow, even just round and round in a rectangle current, is mesmerizing
•The sound of the bubbling filter jet, especially late at night when the world is otherwise dark and still--the bubbling mixed with the sounds of frogs looking for dates makes a calming kind of music
•Day or night, floating on the surface with my ears just below the surface so that all I can hear is the sound of my own breathing, looking up at the clouds or stars and overhanging tree branches--a drug
•I want to give everything away, so offering my pool to my neighbors at all times brings joy
•The opening of the pool in May is a sign of summer and a signal to bring out the floaties and noodles
Why I hate my pool:
•This big hole in my yard requires daily care--skimming, vacuuming, filter emptying, chemical adjusting, ph testing...............blaaaaaaaaaaaah
•When Husband has a broken leg and can't do the job that has been traditionally his, it falls to me to maintain the whole bloody system
•While I enjoy the look of the trees in the back yard, they shower an endless stream of little bloomy seedling things. Every gust of wind brings a new rain of crap to be removed
•The filter is enclosed by a fence, and there are creatures inside the fence
•In the fall, while you wait for the pool guys to come over and close the thing, you still have to skim and treat and backwash, even though it's too darn cold to swim
I'd say the benefits outweigh the burdens. But I do love the fall--I'm ready to let go of the things of summer--light clothes, a bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade on the patio, swimming. I'm eager to embrace the things of fall--warm comforting clothes, tea with honey, falling leaves, sleeping with the windows open on crisp cool nights, burrowed under the sheets and blankets.
During my final 2006 visit to the pool place to test the water, I learned the pool guys will be here Monday to close up the big hole in my yard, and I can't wait. Enough already.
Comments
The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago,
Turned around backwards so the windshield shows.
Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse.
Still, it's so much clearer.
I forgot my shirt at the water's edge.
The moon is low tonight.
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night.
I'm not sure all these people understand.
It's not like years ago,
The fear of getting caught,
Of recklessness and water.
They cannot see me naked.
These things, they go away,
Replaced by everyday.
enough said?
Mr. Anonymous