photo © 2008 havenholidays | more info (via: Wylio)When I was a kid, summer was spent at the pool. Mom bought a family season pass every year for my sisters, brother and I and we walked or biked the half mile there every day. It opened at noon and we were almost always one of the first ones in line. We'd swim and play until five, when it closed for the dinner hour. It reopened at six, and many days, we went back until it closed at nine. What a life.
When I was in eighth grade, the pool became more than a place to cool off on a hot summer day. It was our social paradise! It was such an important place to be--how else would you learn to flirt, make important high school connections or find out the latest gossip?
Finding exactly the right spot to lay your towel was essential. You couldn't be too close to the kiddie end. You would look like a little kid and ran the risk of getting splashed on by the annoying little boys. You didn't want to end up too close to the diving boards because there was just too much activity there and it might block your view of the cute lifeguards ( is it a requirement to be cute when you are a lifeguard?). Nabbing the elite spot just behind and to the right of one particular life guard stand was the goal of the day.
Once there, you needed to lay out your things. Towel, transistor radio (tuned in to the cool station of the summer), Seventeen magazine and, of course, the baby oil and iodine mixture to help get that summer glow.
Laughing, flirting with the lifeguards, strutting our stuff around the pool, giggling at the silly antics of the boys on the diving board. These were the days of summer...
Your descriptions are so right! I was there too, with those cute lifeguards I was too shy to greet, even though we certainly knew who they were, didn't we? I love that you wrote all the rules, & it makes me wonder what the rules are today? I remember the baby oil too; we slathered and slathered to get that tan-a no-no now. Thanks for such a great memory.
ReplyDeleteIt was certainly like that here too, but we were at the ocean. We don't have any outdoor public pools unless you go inland maybe. The sand was our kiddy area. You had to pick the right spot or little kids would kick up sand and splatter water on you as they ran past, too close to the incoming tide and you'd have to keep moving to keep dry. Cute lifeguards, the smell of Copperrone, tan lines, the sounds if surf and transistor radios...ah, you brought back fun memories! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love the smell of Coppertone too. But what I use now doesn't smell like that so it's not the same! I used to love to just get the suntan lotion and put it on the kids and let them swim in the backyard kiddie pool and enjoy the smell of the suntan lotion! I'd dream of being on the beach! Ha! Well, what was a young mother to do? Thanks for sharing! Happy slicing. :o)
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