I would be lying if I said I didn't love, love, love that one of the ways we spend our days is at or around the pool. If I wasn't so focused on my two year-old's insistent independence (and my fear of her not ready to be so independent) in the water I would be reminiscing over the literally thousands of lifetime memories that are associated with that all so distinct smell of chlorine. Memories of my dad taking a whole spring break at the beach to teach me how to do a flip turn, crawling into my parent's bed one Saturday morning asking if I could join the swim team like my older sister, reading my name in print on a crisp white sheet of paper stating I had indeed made the high school team, working with my best friends as lifeguards at a pool I believe to this day to be one of the best around, teaching swim lessons, watching my future husband swim his last college race , the list could go on and on. Although this list is grand and distinguished it doesn't hold a candle to watching my girls make their own memories at the pool. How their faces light up when I ask after our morning chores are done ( just the way my mom did) if they want to go to the pool, watching them make new friends, my older one trying to "surf" on her kickboard, my youngest trying on her bubble floatie for the first time (didn't last too long, 'too tight on belly, mama'), my girls watching their daddy in amazement as he disappears under the water for what seems to them an eternity only to come up magically at the other end of the pool, or, M's head bobbing up and down as she gets breastroke for the first time. Swimming is just such a lifetime sport and not just for the total body workout it provides. It is true that swimming is in my girls blood (as a friend recently pointed out to me), but more so, hopefully, it will be in their memories too. Long after the chlorine scent has left their skin, and the swim suit lines are gone, their legacy as third generation swimmers (and the fun they had in the water) will somehow keep them connected to their parents and grandparents.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Smell of Chlorine
I would be lying if I said I didn't love, love, love that one of the ways we spend our days is at or around the pool. If I wasn't so focused on my two year-old's insistent independence (and my fear of her not ready to be so independent) in the water I would be reminiscing over the literally thousands of lifetime memories that are associated with that all so distinct smell of chlorine. Memories of my dad taking a whole spring break at the beach to teach me how to do a flip turn, crawling into my parent's bed one Saturday morning asking if I could join the swim team like my older sister, reading my name in print on a crisp white sheet of paper stating I had indeed made the high school team, working with my best friends as lifeguards at a pool I believe to this day to be one of the best around, teaching swim lessons, watching my future husband swim his last college race , the list could go on and on. Although this list is grand and distinguished it doesn't hold a candle to watching my girls make their own memories at the pool. How their faces light up when I ask after our morning chores are done ( just the way my mom did) if they want to go to the pool, watching them make new friends, my older one trying to "surf" on her kickboard, my youngest trying on her bubble floatie for the first time (didn't last too long, 'too tight on belly, mama'), my girls watching their daddy in amazement as he disappears under the water for what seems to them an eternity only to come up magically at the other end of the pool, or, M's head bobbing up and down as she gets breastroke for the first time. Swimming is just such a lifetime sport and not just for the total body workout it provides. It is true that swimming is in my girls blood (as a friend recently pointed out to me), but more so, hopefully, it will be in their memories too. Long after the chlorine scent has left their skin, and the swim suit lines are gone, their legacy as third generation swimmers (and the fun they had in the water) will somehow keep them connected to their parents and grandparents.
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I love this! It's so weird that you wrote about swimming/chlorine because we had a long talk about this at my parents' house this weekend. We were talking about the one scent that "takes you back" and of course mine was chlorine. Even now when I walk near our neighborhood pool and smell that wonderful smell or hear the sound of people talking and splashing, I get all misty eyed thinking about my girls and SPRA. We are so lucky to have had that, and it sounds like Maddi and Kayda are making their own memories in the water. Love it!!!
ReplyDeletehaha, I know EXACTLY what you are talking about!! The smell of chlorine brings back all the awesome days of swimming while growing up. I'm so glad the girls are loving swimming as much as you and Dave do, and I cannot wait to share swimming with our future children and create more chlorine memories!!
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