While this pool certainly gets more traffic than my pool in Nashville, I will take it. Gone are the days of walking three feet to the club house pool, with nary a sight of anyone else, this pool is hopping.
I do have to say though that I really am beginning to worry for the future of our world. Parents sit idly by, chatting, snoozing or reading while their precious children run, jump and dive into the pool. Three rules already broken and yet no parent bothers to correct their charges.
The best part of the time spent by the pool today was watching grandparents saunter in with six grandchildren, yelling at them that they were to watch the younger ones. I cringed thinking that this was probably the worst thing to be said to a child. But then the grandmother pipes up and asks which ones can swim. Only one said yes. This doesn’t look good.
But my day started out with a cat pawing at my face, begging me to wake up and pay attention to him. I finally got the hint, got up and decided that I better go get more sunscreen since I was close to running out. While the lobster look might be in for some, I try to control just how bright red I can become since that seems to trouble most people that I run into.
A run to Target means that I will be in there for at least an hour because I have to go through my normal routine. Yes, I clearly have issues. I cannot even run in to pick up one item without walking through the whole store. I pick things up, I look at them, I put them back down. It is a sickness. . .
The heat is already getting to me and I dread July already. I walk out with my sunscreen and venture over to EarthFare. While it is certainly not Whole Foods, it will do in terms of roaming around, taking in all the smells, the food and their cheese section. I pick up milk and exchange my glass container for a now full one.
And here is where I go on my tangent about milk. See, I was raised on Mayfield milk but when I left for college, well, they didn’t have it, they had Purity. As time went on and milk prices went up, I went to the store brand. I LOVE milk but the way I drink it means that I can’t get the pricey brand name. Then I started shopping at Publix all the time and their milk was good. And cheap. I still get it from there but EarthFare is on the way home and their half gallon is a bit cheaper than Publix’s brand (not to mention the cost of gas to get there) so now I am on their milk. Again, I will admit, I have issues.
As I was walking out with my milk and Target purchases a lady called out, “I like your shirt!” I had to stop for a second and think because I was out in lala land. Then she tells me she is from Pittsburgh. Aww, yes, I have my Steelers shirt on. I tell her thanks and pack my car.
Once home I finally get sprayed down, in my suit and head for the pool. I always find a spot in the pool, at the edge away from the hustle and bustle. This allows me to read while in the pool. I people watched, read and cooled down while relaxing. I also kept waiting for a kid to split his lip; which would have resulted in the pool closing down.
Luckily for me, no child was hurt but after a couple of hours poolside I opted to head back to the apartment. While I still love my time by the pool, things have changed. I miss having the smaller pool to myself or just a few people, all wanting to do what I am doing, relax. I also miss the million trees surrounding the pool which allowed some shade when it got too hot or dictated moving from one side of the pool to the other throughout the day.
As I was heading back to my apartment I heard the sound of a tennis ball being smacked back and forth. I watched two guys in a heated game and for a moment wanted to ask them if they were smoking crack. It is much to hot, humid and icky to be out playing like that. That is why I don’t golf during the summer, too hot to be running after a little ball, especially the way I hit.
This is what my weekends will look like through the summer, running errands, heading back to the pool for a few hours to read and then back into the cool air conditioning to nap. And a cat waiting for me to pay attention and forget that silly pool.
Stumbling Through Life 