Be Cool…
Written by: Kirsten Frey; Transitions Life Coaching
… in the pool!
I’m taking this topic literally…and I can’t pass up a rhyme😁
Our winter was long and very cold this year. It was followed by a spring that gave us below seasonal temperatures and quite a lot of rain. Great for the gardens, not so great for outdoor activities and fun.
So when we returned from our mid-June holiday from the east coast, it was like Mother Nature had flipped the sunshine switch. Sunshine and heat. Time to soak up that vitamin D and let the good times roll!
I love the summer. These are the days we dream about when its in the minus double digits. Warm mornings to sit on the patio in my PJ’s with a cup of coffee. Enjoying the hibiscus blooms in the planters, chipmunks chasing each other across the yard, and the birds singing to one another. So much colour and activity after the quiet and solitude of the winter months.
Everything feels better in the summer. Everything tastes better. Everyone seems lighter and more relaxed. It’s fun to be outside. We are so fortunate to have a beautiful backyard and I love being out in it! Lots of people enjoy cottage life but I have never wanted to own a cottage. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being invited to the cottage and I am an excellent guest. I bring food, I help clean up and I don’t stay too long! But the thought of sitting in traffic every weekend just doesn’t appeal to me. We might not have the majesty of the Muskokas but I’m happy with our own little backyard oasis.
It has been hot the last few weeks. Humid hot. Sweat while you stand still kind of hot. I’m not complaining because we waited a long time for this weather and I would much rather be too hot than too cold. Luckily, we have a pool! There is nothing more delicious than to diving into a pool in the high heat. The cool water providing a quick and welcome contrast to the heat and humidity. Refreshing and reenergizing.
Staying cool in the pool reminds me of being a kid with my friends. Splashing and playing like little otters. Countless games of ‘Marco Polo’, ‘Find the Dime’, and ‘Cannonball’, and declaring who was the hold-your-breath-underwater champion. Staying in the water until the skin on our fingers puckered, our lips turned blue, and our parents called us out. Sitting on the deck of the pool wrapped in towels, eating watermelon slices, the juice running down our arms. Waiting for our little bodies to dry and warm up from the sun until we went back in.
My son played these same games with his cousins and friends when they were younger. Watching them having fun in the pool is a wonderful memory for me. I was the one now calling them out of the pool, wrapping them in towels and bringing out big bowls of watermelon slices.
These days our pool doesn’t get used the same as years before. My son is almost twenty-one now. He and his friends are busy with work and don’t have the freedom of an afternoon in the pool. It’s bittersweet. But it’s nice to know the pool is waiting for us when we’re ready.
