Just one of many lovely blue inflatable pools gracing your neighborhood this summer. I'm back!. I didn't really leave you see. I've been hanging out in the crawl space beneath the family room. I've heard the loud and crashing noises of this family for months. Many a time I questioned the integrity of the ceiling above me. I listened as the children got dressed for Halloween. I waited quietly on Christmas morning for the shrieks of excitement over the gifts I heard the two big people discussing way back in October. I was shoved aside and pushed back further and further as the Easter decor boxes came out and were put back in again. I thought my time was on the horizon when Bounce House got to go out a time or two... I waited. I was patient. I know I'm not the prettiest thing... But I do love the children. And I crave the sun. I was practically bursting when MDW came, because I knew, I just knew you couldn't leave me down in that dank crawl space any longer. I knew I would be free to bask in the sun any moment.
And bask I did. The temperatures have soared. The water became like a bath practically over night. I was inflated and filled and stretched like Rip Van Winkle after his slumber.
And then I waited patiently. I knew the older girl had had many sessions of swim lessons. I knew she wanted to practice her bobs and her underwater moves. I knew the boy who refused to wear a vest last summer wanted to jump and jump and splash and pour water. I knew this because on certain nights I would hear a scream come from the far corners of the house when he had poured water all over the bathroom floor during tubbies. I knew there were so many more babies. I had heard their giggles and their cries and the sound of feet pounding the ceiling when they would get excited. I knew all this. Because I am a pool and I just soak it all in.
So after all that waiting and all that listening and all that time I finally saw my children again. Almost all of them. One by one. The screaming girl who loves to splash and swim underwater. The cautious boy who always had his whaley last summer and who remembered him again this summer. The new baby girl named Lena who I hear doesn't like kiddie pools. The baby Dom who treated the pool like a giant jumper, all with a giant smile. And the other new baby girl who proved her mama and aunt wrong by being just fine with me in the end.
It's going to be a good summer. I'm going to soak up every second.
And I'm also happy to notice the fruition of all the ideas I've been hearing about for keeping David safe and sound inside the house. I like the addition of the alarm chime for the door opening as well as the hand made wooden gates complete with latch and lock. Safety first.
