Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Just Add Water

I dream of having a swimming pool. I can't help it, it's a part of my heritage. That's my new line anyway. All these years I thought I just loved swimming.

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This is my dad, floating peacefully in Grandma’s pool, before I was born.

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Me (on left) with two of my sisters, at my 9 year old birthday party by Grandma’s pool.

Maybe it was my summer birthday parties at Grandma's pool, or the way Grandpa Brink would toss coins in the pool when all the cousins were together.

Imagine sitting on the hot cement beside the pool, hearing the water sizzle, shading your eyes from the sun as Grandpa Brink pours a fist full of coins from a large pill bottle and swings his arm back... For a brief moment the sky is filled with glittering, twirling coins, then with a plip-plip they all slip into the blue, and so do I, so do my brothers and sisters, reaching around in the silence of the underwater for the treasure....

One thing I've learned from my grandma is that as a girl swimming was THE favorite family activity. She lived in Salt Lake City, and it seems that back in the 20’s there were pools everywhere. It was common to go to one of the local pools with the cousins.

On special days they would go the Lagoon amusement park . There were rides there, but also a huge pool, and once you left the pool area you couldn’t go back in, so they would swim and swim until they were exhausted and starving, and then get out, eat, and head for the rollercoaster.

On Independence Day they would head south to either Saratoga, in Lehi, or the Geneva pool. Grandma remembers her dad driving them down to the point of the mountain, where he would flip a coin to decide if they went to Saratoga or Geneva. They would also go to Saratoga Hot Springs with the Swedish community for a Midsummer party.

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Swedes at Saratoga Pool in Lehi, Utah, in the 1920’s

So how could I not love a shimmering, turquoise, outdoor pool? And this week after mowing the back yard my husband said “well, maybe it’s worth $30,000. to have less lawn to mow.

It seems like he’s caving in…quick, can anyone lend me $30,000?

9 comments:

  1. Don't you have that under your mattress, like we do?

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  2. LOL, I have to fetch the coffee can where I hide my money and count... though, my yard is big too and no water =(

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  3. You need to start a pool fund. I'd donate if it meant I could come swim and have my parties there!

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  4. I'll chip in two bucks if you let me come swim! (o:

    I have the same kind of memeories from when I was a kid. My dad was in the military, but one of our stops landed us in the country--in a house with a pool. We lived in it, and we were the happiest we ever were right there.

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  5. I love how peaceful your dad looks before you were born.
    Strange that in the pictures after you were born he seemed to have lots of worry lines and was just worn out.

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  6. What a great story!
    My vote: I think you should get the pool.
    It's a win win situation for you and hubby!
    Call me when it's ready. I like cherry Kool-aide...and do I have to bring my own towel???
    everything vintage

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  7. Mike never gets it when I sigh and dream over pools. It is the ultimate dream, and he thinks it would just be a pain to take care of (which is probably true) but that explains the fund for someone else to come tend to the pool!

    I am so freaking out over that picture of us. I remember that suit, those chairs, and your album. Seeing that picture takes me right back to laying on the warm cement waiting for the time to be up after lunch so we could jump back in.
    I love those memories and will be using them on my blog sometime soon!

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  8. and the best part? the pool boy...

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  9. That's so funny about your Grandma's story because I grew up in Salt Lake City and we did the same thing at Lagoon when ever we got to go. My husband grew up with a pool in his back yard (His dad grew up in the same house actually and his Grandpa being a construction worker dug and poured the pool himself) My hubby has always been a fish. He even was on the swim team in school and worked as a life guard a few times. Anyways, the point is, if you ever come to Salt Lake you are totally welcome to come and swim in my in-laws pool with us. It's my favorite part about the summer, being married into my husband's family. Although, I never knew anyone with a pool growing up until high school.

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