I doubt there is a single family in the United States who is experiencing the summer they expected (and if you are the exception, I would love to hear from you.)
Like so many others, we’ve lost get-togethers with friends, cooking out, lazy days on the water, summer camps, and day trips to random places like the world’s largest hippo hang nail.
Unlike many of our friends, we didn’t lose the pool altogether.
Thankfully, the board split the membership into two groups, allowing us to make reservations to attend every other day. The pools are split into swimming zones, and families register for a certain time to swim. Not ideal, but certainly better than nothing, right?
At least that was what I told my kids. Inside, I was chaffing at having to plan out our pool times (after all, even in this weird 2020 summer, who wants to have someone else decide their schedule??)And when we had a stretch that all of our pool times where getting rained out, it really became hard to maintain the good attitude.
Then I reevaluated. Yes, we missed a few days. But on the days we were there, very often there were unclaimed swimming zones, meaning we could stay longer, which has been especially important to our youngest, who hasn’t gone anywhere other than the pool in I-don’t-know-how-long. But the most important difference is the one that will have the longest lasting impact.
My husband (and the awesome daddy to our amazing kids) has been able to go to the pool with us.
That may not sound like much to some families, but it is huge to ours. You see, I grew up in a family with a wonderful father who worked long hours so we could afford to go places like the pool, but that meant he was rarely physically there. I guess it should come as no surprise that I married a man who also wants to provide for his family. It has been slightly different in that at least my husband could periodically show up at the pool for 10 minutes or so to watch the children’s latest tricks or to treat them to ice cream. I’ve always been grateful for that. With the Rona came a new appreciation.
Due to working from home and being able to mostly arrange his hours, my hubby has been going to the pool with us almost every time. Not only that, he is IN the pool, playing with the kids, participating in any silly game they concoct. I can hear their laughter before I ever even make it to the pool deck. And it is the most amazing gift.
We’ve had some hard years. My husband wasn’t always the most emotionally present. The kids often referred to him as “grumpy.” There were times we clearly knew to avoid his negative attitude. But if there is a silver lining of coronavirus, it is that he is more present in our lives than ever, and he is making a tremendous effort to keep it all positive. Watching him in the pool with our kids has helped me to fall in love with him all over again.
So, yeah, this is the summer that wasn’t … but it is also the summer full of endless possibilities.
