The Better Half is a water girl with a capital WATER. She grew up at Sylvan Lake, you see, and maybe that’s why she seems to a have developed quite an affinity for large bodies of water. On vacation or otherwise she is happiest within spitting distance of a lake, river or ocean, and becomes noticeably transcendental when on, in, or around said large amounts of natural H2O.
So the other day, with the heat hovering around the temperature of the surface of the sun, she decided to go swimming. Not in the mega hot outdoor Hubs of Hades, mind you, but in one of the local indoor pool facilities. So that meant I also “decided” to go swimming too on account of everybody knows who wears the snorkel in this family.
We hadn’t been to a public swimming pool since the Rotten Kids had Saturday swim lessons way back around the time water was invented. But it was so hot outside the neighbor’s air conditioning unit sounded like a dying John Deer 4020 tractor even though their windows were tantalizingly frosty. But since we figured it probably wasn’t ‘cool’ to invite ourselves into their refreshingly de-heated house, we twisted like an old fashioned divining rod and headed in the direction of the nearest public pool.
And in no time at all we were floating in heavenly water and the BH’s blissful eyes were glazed with Water Girl transcendence. While I was being splashed in the face. I had three tween girls splashing each other (and yours truly) on one side, and on the other side, four tween boys playing “beach ball” (by smashing the beach ball into each other’s faces, and the faces of those in the vicinity). Still, a splishing, splashing good time was had by all.
It reminded me of those halcyon days of youth back in Parkvale and the Rec Center pool just down the street. And I can’t even think about mega hot days and public swimming pools without once again reliving the looming specter of the “10 Meter Tower”.
Experienced Red Deerians will no doubt have mixed memories of the giant diving board structure that once stood beckoning foolish dare devils. Like some mysterious menacing Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey movie, the cement tower stood at the west end of the outdoor pool, taunting all comers.
It had a bouncy one meter diving board (child’s play!), a three meter bouncy board on the other side (are you chicken??), a huge slab platform five meters up the ladder (I double dog dare ya!) and at the top, the very very top, the piece de resistance the TEN METER DIVING PLATFORM (are you nuts??!). TEN METERS was, like, several thousand feet high back then!
I don’t know how many times each of us water rat ruffians climbed that terrifying tower ladder (which was slippery and scary and a test of character in and of itself) only to rubber-leg onto that stratospheric slab of cement shakily peaking over the edge and then finally chicken out and make the humiliating (and equally scary) climb back down to the hoots and jeers of your watching entourage.
I remember very clearly my first 10M Plunge. I was up there forever. Freaking out, then suddenly, freakin’ flying. It was one small step for a kid, one giant terrifying leap for kid-dom come! I went SPLAT but I survived. Absolutely terrifying. Incredibly heart-pounding. Totally awesome. But a couple of times were quite enough; and I sort of don’t blame them for finally tearing that terrifying tower down.
Lifeguard: Sorry you have to leave the pool. Kid: Why?? Lifeguard: No one is allowed to pee in the pool. Kid: Every kid pees in the pool! Lifeguard: Not from the diving board.
Harley Hay is a Red Deer author and filmmaker. Reach out to Harley with any thoughts or ideas at harleyhay99@gmail.com.
