Everybody In the Pool!

My wife called a little after 4:30 p.m. to tell me that Danny had more friends than she could count splashing around our in-ground pool.
“There has to be about seven boys and two girls. I wanted to call. I knew you’d be happy.”
“You made my day,” I told her.
I had the pool installed at the end of the 2007 swim season, so last year was really our first year. The weather was hot and there were a steady stream of kids using the pool from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
This year the weather was cool and rainy. The pool was empty all of May and much of June and July. Of course, the pool still needs daily skimming and other primping along with weekly vacuuming and chemical check. There’s also a fair amount of lawn and other work.
I learned this summer that the only thing worse than doing all the pool chores myself was doing all the pool chores and not having anyone actually using the pool. It got me down. I also thought about the payments I was making on a pool that wasn’t getting much use.
Monday was a big day. Before Danny’s friends’ arrived, Michael and a couple of his friends had been swimming.
I’m actually excited to go home tonight and do my chores. It will probably require some extra skimming and I’ll need to set the filter on “super chlorinate.” It’s the special setting required after you have a bunch of people in the pool. Last year I used it several times a week, this year only a couple of times all season. As I walk around the pool in the warm night air, I can imagine all those teen-agers laughing, splashing around, drinking all my soda and not leaving me any hamburgers or hot dogs. I’m sure I’ll find a stray potato chip or two. That’s OK. I’m glad they are enjoying it.

Let me know what you think.