Water

I did a little yardwork this evening, and even as late as it was, it was still too hot for me.  I hate hot.

When I was done, I was watering plants, and I took a sip of the cold water out of the hose.  Of course, there is no neat way to do that, and it splashed all over me, soaked my already damp shirtfront.  It felt delightful.  I bathed my face and my arms, turned it on my feet and legs and felt cooler instantly, stood there wiggling my toes in the cold clear flow until a sudden pang of financial guilt for the amount of water I was using hit me.

As I was cutting off the faucet and cranking the hose reel, I thought again about how much I'd love to have a pool.  I have always been a swimmer, not for speed or competition because I am not fast, but for the simple pleasure of being in the water, blanking my mind completely, and feeling the water hold me and moving through it.  Swimming, like fencing, is an exercise in which I can turn my mind off totally, one of those rare escapes from myself.

I've been swimming since I was six or seven.  I took swim lessons every summer, right up to the lifeguard stage, and it's such a peaceful exercise when I can find a pool that's not full of the screaming masses.  I loved it when I lived in the Cotton District and I could go to the pool in the afternoons and swim.  Only my neighbor and I ever seemed to go, and we never bothered each other except for casual conversation.  He was the sweetest guy.  I was swimming laps, and he was mostly going to unwind and cool down after football practice.   Perhaps it's time for me to find a place to do that again. Now that my knee is repaired, it shouldn't hurt to swim again.  Before, every kick, every flutter, with that torn ACL was agony.

In reality, I won't be able to have a pool here, and I know it.  Too much money, too many eager water moccasins.  I laughed as I thought about it, at the "budget friendly" option my mind immediately came up with.  Maybe I can get a good sprinkler and set it up in the back yard where nobody can see.  I suppose that might be fun, too.....