Swimming

We were a family that loved to swim. All of us except for Dad, who was terrified of the water and wouldn't go near it. We kids were in the water every chance we got. And later, Dad gave Mom the gift of a built-in enclosed swimming pool in our backyard. We were the only people in the neighborhood to have a pool. And since it was enclosed, we swam every day and night, rain or shine. Mom insisted on keeping the temperature at 90 degrees. Which was fine by me.








We were pretty popular with the neighborhood kids once we had the pool. Slumber parties included night-time swimming.



Little sister Tabatha.



Jeff and Tabatha could swim like seals before they could even speak in full sentences.



Getting the pool put in took over a year, because the company went out of business in the middle of the job. We had that sand pile out there a long time, and it was really fun to play king of the mountain on it. The neighbors weren't very happy with the eyesore though.



We had that big unfinished hole in there for months, and we used it to play in. Kids always find the silver lining to an adults nightmare.



Besides the pool company's employees, my Mom conscripted other people to provide extra labor for the task too. She wanted the project done already!





My Mom at some point declared herself a swimming instructor. Here she is teaching my baby brother Jeff how to swim. You can read what she wrote on the back of the photo. She and my sister Lynda would have him swim back and forth between them. This was before we had our backyard pool. We all learned to swim at the Driver's Supply House, down in the Sports Arena area. They had an indoor pool that was heated to the 80s.

I noticed that Mom is really sunburned. She used to spend Sundays selling antiques and other collectibles at the Spring Valley Swap Meet, and she would come home burned to a crisp.


Our first backyard pool. Brother "Bay" and me. Mom always made the older kids heat up the water in pots on the stove, then lug it out to the back yard in buckets, so that my pool would be nice and warm. This is why I hate swimming in cold water to this day. Also, check out our cat, Fudder. Manx cats are strange to begin with, because they are missing their tails. But they also are not that averse to water, especially warm water. Fudder had no problem sharing time with us in the pool. And no, I don't know why she was named Fudder. No one does.