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Diving into my very own poolBy Jennifer Ferrero It's early in the summer, and I've already been a naughty girl. While my husband was out-of-town, I sacrificed 15 feet of our treasured green grass for an above ground pool. As I float in the pool for the third day in a row, realizing that my décolletage is already sunburned, I relish in my daring act. What is better in the summer than having your own backyard pool? I have wanted one since the age of six when I took swimming lessons in a neighborhood pool. At that time, I remember thinking, "Someday, I'll have my own pool. I will go in it whenever I want!" Later, as my father took job promotions and we moved around the country, my favorite part of moving each summer was staying in hotels with swimming pools. Ah, the smell of chlorine in my sun-dried hair! It made all of the moving bearable. We'd travel six to eight hours a day in smoldering heat in our modified early 70s family van with the windows open. By the time we'd arrive at our destination – whether it be in the mid-west, or the Deep South, all that we could do is roll out of the van and directly into the closest hotel swimming pool to cool off. This would be hard for my kids to believe, but we didn't always have air-conditioning in cars! I always hoped that other families staying in the hotel wouldn't notice that there was a pool and it would be empty for us. But even when there were other kids in the pool, it was still a luxury to hurry up and check in so that we could shimmy into our suits and jump in.  In elementary school, there were community pools that we could enter for $1 and they had snack bars. My friends and I would leave the heat during a Sioux Falls summer – the direct opposite of a blustery Sioux Falls winter – and go to the pool for the afternoon. It was the only way to survive the heat! I'll never forget the Marco Polo games and the ice cream bars each afternoon. When I got to high school, I was fortunate to find a best friend with a swimming pool. Oh, the days of swimming in her kidney shaped backyard pool. At that time, we lived in the humid and sweltering heat of a South Carolina summer. When we couldn't make it to the beach to swim, we'd park ourselves in that pool to cool off. No matter where I have lived, or what pool I've jumped into, the best part of swimming is diving under the water to block out all of the sounds from above. I touch the bottom and pretend that I'm a little mermaid in an underwater world. I never have minded the red eyes from the chlorine or my hair drying out as the summer progresses. There is a real peace in swimming – no matter where you are. I guess that's why, after almost 13 years of marriage and at least 34 years of dreaming of my own pool that I finally did it. It's not a huge pool, and it will kill the grass underneath – but it's mine. Of course, I will argue that I bought it for the kids and for their summer fun – and I suppose there is truth to that. But for me, the idea of slipping on a suit and some flip flops and walking out to my own pool holds its own magic. The dream of lying on my new $2.99 Kmart pool raft and floating with an iced tea in hand passing a summer afternoon is a tiny little dream that came true. While I'm nervous for my husband to come home and spy a pool through the kitchen window, I think that it was the right decision. I no longer move every summer, or stay in many hotels with pools. But I can always lie on my pool raft, or sink beneath the silent blue-walled water and dream of my little mermaid life on a summer's day.
When my husband came home from his trip and saw the pool...let's say he wasn't really pleased. It took about 2 weeks for him to accept it, and last night for the first time he plunked in the pool ladder and climbed in. I don't think he feels the melancholy urge that I have to be in the pool, but as long as he'll at least dip his toes into my little dream, it will be okay.
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Epilogue
