The Dip

I don't always have such a hectic schedule, but we are already gearing up for fall. I ended up working the full day AND having to work the night shift as well. I barely had an hour between picking Drew up from soccer camp and my 5pm shift at reference. I needed to get him home and grab something for dinner before dashing back. As I was driving home, wilting a bit from the heat, I thought of the crystal clear pool in our complex, how pristine and inviting the water always looked. I calculated the minutes. If I played my cards right and settled for grabbing a frozen dinner, I could squeeze in a half hour of swimming.

Drew was shocked when I suggested it, interrupting him mid-sentence. He blinked, thought a minute, then agreed. It was settled. We would hit the pool as soon as we could shuck our day clothes, slide into our bathing suits and dash over to the pool. We walked around the back side of the buildings so as not to be in the public view in our swim wear, carefully picking our way around some doggie doodoo.

Drew flipped the gate latch, we signed in, greeted the lifeguard (lovely young lady), and threw our towel and shorts on a deck chair. I chose to walk down the three steps in the shallow end of the pool. Eeek - the water feels chilly. Its hard to force yourself to keep stepping deeper into the inviting but frigid blueness. Once you reach waist deep, there's no going back. You finally take the final plunge and you're in.

Drew, on the other hand, jumped directly into the deep end. I think instantly of the Bishop of Calcutta, a British missionary who jumped into the Ganges River and died of shock. Too drastic a temperature change could be bad for your health! We swim back and forth, Drew plays underwater, walking down the slope between the shallow and deep sides. He laughs that the three foot depth doesn't even come up to his waist. He has really grown!

I finally tear myself away, knowing that if I cut it too close, I won't get back on time and my colleague will get stuck at the desk when she could be home swimming too. I scurry back to the apartment, trying to rush changing clothes - not easy when everything is wet and sticking to you. I make it back to work with 1 minute to spare. Whew! But I sure do feel refreshed. Its enough to get me through the rest of the evening. How delicious!