Someday Summers

In 2010, I took a summer job working as a pool monitor at a community pool near my house.  (Pool monitor as in I sat by the pool, had residents sign-in, and yelled at people if they broke rules.)  I was definitely not a life guard, and I was definitely very bored 90% of the time and very overwhelmed and busy the other 10% of the time.   People liked to drink beer at the pool.  Kids like to swim at the pool without an adult.  Old people liked to take the floating divider between the deep and shallow end down so they could swim laps.  Old men liked to ask me inappropriate questions , and old women liked to ask me if I’d pet-sit their cats.  Many pool-goers liked to listen to loud music on their portable stereos, swim in cut-off shorts instead of the appropriate swimwear, and… wait for it- shower naked in the wide-open rinse-off shower beside the pool.  And they all liked to yell at me when I asked them to stop.

It wasn’t all bad.  That summer was particularly rainy- and whenever there was thunder and/or lightning,  I was allowed to officially close the pool.  Closing the pool meant no one could swim- but I was allowed to stay in the pool house and continue getting paid.  That was also the summer I got a new laptop and my first iPhone.  Technological bliss.  I beat Plants vs. Zombies, ate a lot of lean pockets, rea-read the Harry Potter Series, Crocheted a scarf, and got one of the only tans I’ve ever had in my life. 

               That was also the first summer I’d ever taken summer classes.  Things were low-key… but also busy.  I definitely wasn’t miserable…but something was just “off” about the whole “life going on as usual” over the summer.

               When I was little, summer meant setting-up our kiddie pool in the backyard and leaving it out for days on end until the water was warmer than a bathtub.  I remember once my mom brought the shampoo outside and we washed our hair while in our swimsuits and under the sun.

               Summer meant going to the beach and drinking Capri suns we had frozen in the freezer the night before.  I remember collecting seashells and the smell of sulfur water when we’d rinse our feet off at the fountain before going home.  My dad would rinse us off with the hose when we got home, and then I’d run inside to jump in the warm bath my mom had started.  I was the only girl so I got the tub to myself.   The bottom of the tub was still always covered with sand; and sometimes some shells.

               When I was in middle school, summer meant sleepovers.  I remember my friends and I making the rounds between all our houses and staying for days on end.  We’d hang out in our swim suits, bike to McDonalds, make tie-dye shirts, and stay up all night talking.  We made a pact that we’d be friends forever.

              

               Summer meant girls camp.  We’d go canoeing and build fires.  We binged on soda and Doritos, and wore our hair in French-braid pig-tails.  We sang Avril Lavigne and All American Rejects songs at the top of our lungs until our leaders begged us to sing something different.  We decorated our cabins and licked the crepe paper, because the older girls told us it was tradition and we had to; and then when we were the older girls because it really had become tradition…even though we didn’t have to, and it tasted horrible.

               When I was in high school, summer meant crushes.  I wasted an entire family vacation pining after my then-boyfriend.  I signed onto the computer every chance I got to see if he’d e-mailed me.  I wish we had just been friends instead.  I remember staying up all night chatting online with all my friends.  I’d sleep in late the next morning until my mom made me get up and do my chores.  My friends would throw pool parties and we’d all try to act super cool.  To me, we succeeded. I always felt really cool hanging out with them. 

               Summer meant goodbye.  Some of my friends started college classes before I did.  I remember three of my girlfriends and I all sitting on my bed- staring at the beta fish I’d purchased to take with me to college.  I remember it feeling uncomfortable.   None of us were going to the same school.  Things were changing already.  We tried to take pictures making silly expressions with our faces all crammed together like we used to- but it just felt sad.  I don’t know if any of our smiles were genuine. 

               In college, summer meant love.  My husband and I were engaged the summer after my freshman year, and married in the fall.  That summer also meant realizing that not all my friends were ready to grow up.  I remember letting that realization sink-in; but I also remember reuniting with old friends.  The friends who I’d made a pact with so many years ago.  A new chapter was beginning- and it was picking-up from a dog-eared page that I’d left forgotten.

               Now, summer means a break.  A time-out from work and a chance to re-focus on my family.  Summer means finishing projects, watching TV,  and snuggling with my boys. 

              

               A few weeks after the Summer and my pool job ended, my husband and I found out we were expecting our first baby.  We were over the moon!  He was born June 23^rd, and this year we welcomed our second bundle of joy  on June 8^th.  Two June Bugs, my summer babies.

               Someday I hope that they look back on their summers and remember them fondly.  Mine have been filled with both bitter and sweet, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything.