My backyard has had an above ground pool for the past… oh my… as I’m counting the years I can barely believe this… 26 years! But it gets better! The ole’ above ground was used when I got it, and matter of fact, my backyard was its third home. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I swore the ole’ girl had seen her last season, but when spring came I would say, “She can do one more year.”
This year, there wasn’t going to be another ‘one more year.’ A rust hole around the skimmer box, water trickling out the filter that couldn’t be plugged, and all color totally gone (the outside frame and the inside liner had faded to white) — my pool was totally done. A piece of junk in my yard that would barely hold water. I thought as it was coming down that what it DID hold was a lot of memories…
Ben swam in that pool about every summer day for I don’t know how many years. His friends would swim here rather than in the in-ground pool owned by another friend. I’ve seen boys wear shirts because they were embarrassed to go without, and girls wear bikinis and flirt with the boys. I’ve seen clumsy dives that turned me white and shoulders that turned a brilliant shade of red. I’ve enjoyed about a bajilion poolside cookouts with friends, and have laughed as I watched the peskies play in the water like kids. And then, I saw my granddaughter’s smile when she first went swimming while wearing a floppy little white hat with flowers that shielded her tender skin from the sun.
So now I have a perfectly round 27′ mud puddle and I’m really torn about what to do about it. Common sense tells me that the climate in the Ville isn’t such that it warrants spending money for an in-ground pool — at least for me since I’m not sure I’m going to stay here — and I should think about leveling that spot out and planting grass. But on the other hand, while I’m not crazy about another above ground pool I do believe that Coco would make a lot of memories at her Nana’s and wouldn’t care if the water was in the ground or on top of it — and I’m not out to impress anybody anyway.
Thorton Wilder said that the more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose. I am aware I have that freedom for sure. So here goes, you guys…