"The perfect day." That's what Rebecca called today....and it's only 2 o'clock in the afternoon ;-)
My over-arching goal for my adult life is to have a house with a pool. I didn't need it any earlier than now, because I wanted it for one reason: the grandkids.
Literally, my happiest memories of being a child are wrapped up in my grandparents and spending my summers in Florida. Sometimes people talk about the horrendous childhood I had, but I wouldn't give up a moment if it means giving up that time with G-Mother and G-Dad. They were part of the package that came along with Chuck, as did my religion, so it's all working out in the end.
My grandparents lived in Tallahassee, and when I spent my first summer with them in 1976 (at the age of six), they were living in Woodcrest Apartments while their home was being built. It was in that apartment complex pool that I first learned to swim. Every summer after that (for ten straight years as they always proudly told people), I spent a huge part of everyday in the pool of our neighbor, Barbra Cairns. She was a year older than me, and by cutting through the wooded backyard of my grandparents' next door neighbors (the O'Mearas), I would walk straight up to screen door to her pool. We were inseparable during the summers. It's funny--I never really saw her parents at all, and occasionally I would see one of her older sisters, but for the most part, it was always just the two of us. Of course, I was only allowed to go after I had done several hours of practicing in the morning, but when I came home famished each day, my g-mother would make me a burned grilled cheese sandwich, served with a side of potato chips and cantaloupe. In fact, if I timed it just right, Grandad would be inside from working in the garage, and we would all sit down together for lunch at their wicker kitchen table and listen to Paul Harvey on the radio.
To this day, my favorite foods are grilled cheese sandwiches, potato chips, cantaloupe and Dr. Pepper (as well as steaks which my granddad would grill occasionally). It's not that those foods are anything out of the ordinary, but it's that they are tied up in the sweet memories of the happy part of my childhood.
I love this quote: "Food and memories have the power to bring back memories long forgotten. I'll have a double order of both." Amen. And I guess I could add swimming to that order ;-)
So I have told John through the years that no matter where we are, or what kind of house we have, we must have a pool. We thought for the longest time that we would have the pool behind our PA house, but thankfully we didn't make that investment. And when we moved to La Maison (in Dexter), I reminded him that the grand babies are already here, and we need to get going on the pool.
Well thankfully, we found the perfect house with the perfect pool, because today was just about the perfect day.
We opened the pool yesterday, and because we were running the heater, the pool guys told us that we could get in in six hours (this was pared down from 2 days initially). Side note: the two pool guys were Hispanic, and John got his Spanish on. Of course, when they asked him how he spoke "perfect" Spanish (yes, their words to me when John was out of ear shot), he did his usual missionary spiel about Argentina. No need to explain further--one of them is a member of the church! Anyway, Baby and I were counting down the hours yesterday. She had been counting down the four days before it opened, knowing that on the fourth day (her pinky finger), we would open it. Wednesday dawned, and she announced that it was "PINKY DAY"!! So when 6:30 p.m. rolled around, we hopped in. I knew she wouldn't care how cold it was, seeing that she wore a badge of courage back in Lake Michigan, and just being there with Baby, I didn't care either. Our neighbor had stuffed off a bunch of pool toys and inflatables that we were happy to have. We stayed in for at least an hour!
But today. I had a bad morning when I first woke up, and Rebecca and I decided not to exercise
today, so I decided that I would take Baby out to the pool. If nothing else, it would keep me from stress eating, and I could spend some time with her (they are leaving this weekend). To our surprise, the pool was probably 90 degrees! It was like a HOT TUB! Or in the words of Baby, it was a HOT POOL! Rebecca looked off the deck, asking us how it was, and when we told her, she came out too. I think we were in the pool an hour and half, and it was HEAVEN! We really didn't want to get out, but Baby and Brother needed lunch and a nap, so what did we do? I made grilled cheese, and we sat outside on the deck and ate it along with a huge bowl of cantaloupe. #heaven Another terrific part about it all was that it is overcast today, and only in the 70s, so no sun screen was needed (which I never needed in Barbra's pool either because it was tree-covered), and sitting on the deck was perfect.
It's all about the memories, isn't it? I want my grand babies to have this visceral memory of being at our house, being in the pool, and eating some of my favorite food. I'm glad we're one day down in a lifetime of days <3
My over-arching goal for my adult life is to have a house with a pool. I didn't need it any earlier than now, because I wanted it for one reason: the grandkids.
Literally, my happiest memories of being a child are wrapped up in my grandparents and spending my summers in Florida. Sometimes people talk about the horrendous childhood I had, but I wouldn't give up a moment if it means giving up that time with G-Mother and G-Dad. They were part of the package that came along with Chuck, as did my religion, so it's all working out in the end.
My grandparents lived in Tallahassee, and when I spent my first summer with them in 1976 (at the age of six), they were living in Woodcrest Apartments while their home was being built. It was in that apartment complex pool that I first learned to swim. Every summer after that (for ten straight years as they always proudly told people), I spent a huge part of everyday in the pool of our neighbor, Barbra Cairns. She was a year older than me, and by cutting through the wooded backyard of my grandparents' next door neighbors (the O'Mearas), I would walk straight up to screen door to her pool. We were inseparable during the summers. It's funny--I never really saw her parents at all, and occasionally I would see one of her older sisters, but for the most part, it was always just the two of us. Of course, I was only allowed to go after I had done several hours of practicing in the morning, but when I came home famished each day, my g-mother would make me a burned grilled cheese sandwich, served with a side of potato chips and cantaloupe. In fact, if I timed it just right, Grandad would be inside from working in the garage, and we would all sit down together for lunch at their wicker kitchen table and listen to Paul Harvey on the radio.
To this day, my favorite foods are grilled cheese sandwiches, potato chips, cantaloupe and Dr. Pepper (as well as steaks which my granddad would grill occasionally). It's not that those foods are anything out of the ordinary, but it's that they are tied up in the sweet memories of the happy part of my childhood.
I love this quote: "Food and memories have the power to bring back memories long forgotten. I'll have a double order of both." Amen. And I guess I could add swimming to that order ;-)
So I have told John through the years that no matter where we are, or what kind of house we have, we must have a pool. We thought for the longest time that we would have the pool behind our PA house, but thankfully we didn't make that investment. And when we moved to La Maison (in Dexter), I reminded him that the grand babies are already here, and we need to get going on the pool.
Well thankfully, we found the perfect house with the perfect pool, because today was just about the perfect day.
We opened the pool yesterday, and because we were running the heater, the pool guys told us that we could get in in six hours (this was pared down from 2 days initially). Side note: the two pool guys were Hispanic, and John got his Spanish on. Of course, when they asked him how he spoke "perfect" Spanish (yes, their words to me when John was out of ear shot), he did his usual missionary spiel about Argentina. No need to explain further--one of them is a member of the church! Anyway, Baby and I were counting down the hours yesterday. She had been counting down the four days before it opened, knowing that on the fourth day (her pinky finger), we would open it. Wednesday dawned, and she announced that it was "PINKY DAY"!! So when 6:30 p.m. rolled around, we hopped in. I knew she wouldn't care how cold it was, seeing that she wore a badge of courage back in Lake Michigan, and just being there with Baby, I didn't care either. Our neighbor had stuffed off a bunch of pool toys and inflatables that we were happy to have. We stayed in for at least an hour!
But today. I had a bad morning when I first woke up, and Rebecca and I decided not to exercise
It's all about the memories, isn't it? I want my grand babies to have this visceral memory of being at our house, being in the pool, and eating some of my favorite food. I'm glad we're one day down in a lifetime of days <3
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