Swimming

Growing up, my mom would take us to the Dunn Loring Swim Club. We arrived in the morning for swimming lessons, and stayed all day long. There was a fabulous snack bar which had candies galore and nachos. Twice a week they had Raft Day, where the life guards handed out inner tubes. Sometimes I got in line early enough to get one, but not always. I loved going to the pool. I was brown from June-September. My toes were always scraped from the pool floor. I could swim like a fish, or a maybe even a mermaid. One of my proudest moments was earning my "patch," which I could pin on my swimsuit and announce to the world that I passed a strenuous life guard test and could jump off the diving board.

These happy summer memories are the main reason I get a family pass to our city pools every summer. (Would you believe that our city website does not have pictures of its pools? Sad, but true.) It's not as fancy as Dunn Loring, and the snack bars don't have those delicious nachos, but it is hours of fun every day. I try not to be as brown as I was growing up, but it's impossible not to tan when you're in the sun for 4 or 5 hours. My kids toes have scrapes, and they are turning into great little swimmers. Patch especially is fearless and really doesn't want me to hold onto him anymore. Sadly, his wish is not granted, because he sinks like a stone. I get why my mom would take us every day; it's fun, it's exercise, and it's not wasting a day away inside in front of the TV.