Pool Ownership

The pool has been open for a few weeks now.  We've had several friends and neighbors over to swim, and also had our first hot & sunny weekend all to ourselves at home.  Accordingly, I am learning lots of things about owning a pool:

1.  On weekends, I should not bother getting dressed in regular clothes because the kids will insist on swimming shortly after breakfast.

2. Accordingly, there is no such thing as "playing in the backyard" anymore.  As soon as we step outside they start asking to swim.  Even at 9am.  Even if it's only 75 degrees out.

3. If I heed my own advice and keep my suit on all day, it must be a two-piece.  Using the bathroom in a (damp) one-piece and a sundress is no fun.  

4.  You can never own too many swimsuits.  Selecting a fresh one out of the drawer is 10 million times better than attempting to put a cold wet one back on your body.

5. Speaking of swimsuits, there is absolutely no room for body image issues with pool ownership. Friends-Neighbors-Relatives-Coworkers will come over to us the pool.  You will swim with them.   There is no option of worrying about what you look like in a suit. And no one cares anyway.  It's fantastic, actually.

6.  One side effect of never knowing when friends might want to come by and swim is that I've been better than ever before at keeping my legs cleanly shaven.  The other side effect is that I've been keeping the bathrooms clean.  Folks who come over to swim always want to use the bathroom as well.  So, yes, the pool is essentially forcing me to clean the bathrooms and shave my legs.  These are not bad things.


7.  Although the bathrooms are unprecedentedly clean, the rug by the back door is destined to be damp and grassy all summer long.  I have pretty much come to terms with that, but Quynh refuses to walk on it.  She literally asks to be carried over, "the dirty red rug" and into the bathroom so that her feet don't get dirty.


8.  Pool ownership is work.  Even though 119 people told me that as we were preparing to buy this house, I still feel the need to state it here.  That said, the novelty has not worn off yet and I kind of enjoy skimming and vacuuming the pool, as long as I don't have to learn about the chemical balancing part of the job.  That's Minh's thing.

9. I still love to swim as much as I did when I was a kid.


10. I can still do a cartwheel off the diving board.

11.  My kids love to swim as much as I did when I was a kid.  But while both kids are always excited to get in the water, Tai's lips turn blue after about 15 minutes and he stands there shivering asking to go inside and get changed.  Quynh, on the other hand, is already famous for batting her wet eyelashes and asking, "Just one more quick dip, daddy?" and then the two of them swim for 30 more minutes.


12. When Tai says his pool towel, "smells like cheese" it's time to do some laundry.

13.  We spend so much time out in the backyard I might actually get a tan this summer.  Do not underestimate the gravity of this statement.

14.  Swimming with a child who cannot yet stand in the shallow end is exhausting.  Although I love playing with both kids in the water and carrying Quynh to and fro across the shallow end, I am very much looking forward to the day she can stand on her own feet in the pool.

15.  We are a family of fish.