in the swim

What a delightful time we had at last night's Bryn Athyn Swim Club fund-raiser!  Apparently, they've typically held it in the winter time, but I guess our brutal winter waved them closer to summer.  It's doubtful we would have gone if it was in winter & am pretty sure we wouldn't be joining the swim club.

Can feel Mom smiling from above.  She was a huge swim club booster.  But then, she was a total water baby!  I, on the other hand, had little to no interest in swimming.  Oh, it was wonderful fun to loll about in the pool at Cairnwood or down at Alice & Frank Day's.  

"Aunt" Gay's olympic-length pool featured both high & low dives.  It was great fun jumping off the high dive - well, not so much going into the water, but you got a great view from up there; to the right was the carriage house at the edge of Klips' wheat fields & to the left was the view up to Cairnwood, across Bishop Pendleton's beautiful rose garden.  How wonderful that - even as a child & teen - I realized what a special spot it was, especially the long wisteria-laden pergola that muffled the noise of the traffic on Huntingdon Pike & increased the sense of a place out of place, time out of time.  It was delightfully private, since I was usually the only youngster there, enjoying the pool while Mom & "Aunt" Gay & maybe Eva Henderson or another motherly sort visited & gabbed.  Idyllic.

"Aunt" Alice's pool was much smaller, teeny tiny in comparison to the Pendleton's.  But it was special to me, tucked amidst tall trees & beautiful flowering shrubs.  It really was a very small pool, but it always felt just right to me.  Again, I'd enjoy the water while Mom & her cohorts got in a nice visit before taking their own leisurely time in the water.

When I was very young, we'd occasionally go to "Aunt" Clara Pitcairn's for a swim.  Her pool was in the most spectacular setting of all, with a wow view of the cathedral, but I never found it alluring, no doubt due to the long, bake-in-the-sun walk home - down Cairncrest's long driveway to Quarry Road, then up to the shade of Alnwick Road.  

Even rarer were our visits to Emilie & Carl Asplundh's pool. What an elegant setting!  There was something extra special about their pool - it was inviting, with a zen-like vibe;  a gathering spot, a place for family & friends to enjoy  each other's company as much as the water.  

Phyllis & Garth had a pool, but I can't remember ever going there for a swim.  Mom & Philly were friendly, but not buds.  (Small wonder, as Philly was years younger.)  The Grahams had a pool & I'm sure there are others that slipped my notice.  Mom took Peter & Mike & Mim to swim at "the pond;" by the time Ian & I came along, it was off limits due to pollution.  

With the pond unavailable, there was a crying need for a swim club to replace it.  Unlike Mom, I never warmed to the swim club.  First of all, it was not much fun for me to be in the pool with hoards of other people, not after being pampered at far more special swimming spots.  Most important, socializing just wasn't the draw that it was for most young folks.  Even if they weren't wild about swimming, they tagged up with buddies & hung out hours on end.  

Just never related to it, not having my own circle of friends.  The one person who truly mattered to me - Mim - never swam, at least not that I can recall.  I am sure she had a wonderful time swimming when she was out at the Ripley Ranch when she was 15, but I don't know any other time.  And if Mim wasn't there, it didn't hold much allure for me.

All of that is my long explanation for why it never ever occurred to me to join the swim club.  My memories were of a hot, treeless place with little to no shade, felt fat & ugly in my swim suit, had no interest in just sitting around by myself - it was yet another place to feel more out than in.   Pretty darn pathetic.  And light years from my here & now experience.  

First of all, the swim club is GORGEOUS! Welcoming - make that beckoning.  Looking forward to many afternoons lolling about in one of the comfy poolside chairs - in the sun or under the elegant pavilion - reading or visiting with friends.  What fun it will be to see elementary school kids I've gotten to know over the years, ones who are Saturday morning cupcakers, parents I remember as my own students or even younger.  

I don't envision going in a swim suit, although I have one & even know where it is.  But who knows?  Although I can't imagine ever being comfortable during the "adult swim" - too many memories of sitting on the skirt of the pool, eyes boring into the adults who were swimming laps or just enjoying being in the clear cool water.  

Wow - suddenly swept with a happy memory of Friday night suppers at the pool, when Dad would join us.  Can see him in his trunks, long body hair (he had a lot, but very manly  - not gross) slicked down from the water.  Had completely forgotten those long-ago summer evenings at the pool with my parents.  

Last night's party was a winner.  John enjoyed himself, too.  Kerry Sullivan's husband is from Frankford, too!  There were so many faces I love, as well as numerous couples we got to know better at Heather & Brett's 2013 fire pit Fridays.  I took special joy is so many of my former students all grown up, many with high school, even college graduates.  An unexpected treat was tagging up with Pam Gibberson, a bud from back in my US Healthcare days.  She was the icing on the cake, pulling all my worlds together.  

Yes, I feel Mom smiling down.  Smiling for so many reasons.  Smiling, maybe most of all, because in so many ways, on so many levels, her baby girl is finally in the swim of things!