The Only Thing Missing was the Umbrella Drink

I still have to blog about Jett's third birthday, but wow, it takes some planning to find time to find the camera, find the camera batteries, find the cord so I can upload the pictures, and then find time to sit at the computer and get it all done. So while my camera sits across the room and the cord is in another room, and batteries are who-knows-where, I'll write about what we did today.

Today was, to my surprise, awesome.

My friend and I had agreed to take our kids to the pool today. This friend of mine, she seems to do everything with ease. She arrives places on time - with her kids. She packs amazing, well-balanced lunches, she never seems to need 20 minutes to organize her stroller before she can put her kids back in it, and her kids are always happy. So when she suggested that we take the kids to the pool, I was a little intimidated. I wasn't intimidated of her, I was just in awe of how she mentioned a trip to the pool. She said it so casually. Like it wouldn't take her an entire week just to gather the energy to think about taking two kids to the pool. As if it wouldn't take her a day to pack the bags. As if watching two kids in a pool would be easy. I was exhausted just thinking about it. In fact, I even pushed it back a day so I could rest up first (thankfully I could blame it on the weather forecast, although the rain never came). When I finally admitted to myself that I needed to pack for the pool, it took me over thirty minutes - and I did this the night before when the kids were sleeping, so I had no distractions. Two towels, sunscreen, bathing suits, swim diapers, a couple of tupperware bowls as stand-in water toys (You can imagine how excited Jett was to play with those.), lunch, water bottles, change of clothes, extra diapers, kitchen sink - you get the idea. We were loaded up.

I was most nervous about watching both of the boys in the pool at the same time. First, because it's a pool, and kids drown in pools. Secondly, because Jett is starting to run away from me when we are outside (or inside). Thirdly, because it's a pool and kids drown in pools. But, it's a kiddie pool, I reasoned, trying to psyche myself up. It starts out about ankle deep, and is only up to Jett's belly-button at the deepest point. Plus, it will be crowded with kids and it's in an enclosed space, and my friend will be there with her kids, and she has quick reflexes and Jett almost always does what she asks. Still, I was nervous. I was nervous that one of my kids would drown and the other one would run away. I was nervous about fitting in to my bathing suit. I was nervous about appearing nervous. I was a nervous wreck.

We walked in to that pool area with all of our stuff and all of my tension and I talked happily to Jett to mask my stress and I tried to walk lightly, the way relaxed mothers walk, and swing my backpack jauntily over my shoulder the way carefree people do. I wore a backpack and carried Kai on my hip and two towels around my shoulders, and held Jett's hand while he dragged the water bottle, and did it all with a smile, because this, carrying all of this crap into a watery death trap, this is pure fun. Changing two wiggly boys out of regular diapers and into swim diapers while they stand, sit, lay, wriggle on a towel - oops, make that a soaking wet towel (thanks, splashing kid) - oops make that scratchy concrete - this is fun. This was totally worth the half hour walk in the stroller just to get here.

The pool was packed with babies in sun hats and little girls in pink bikinis and boys in board shorts and twelve million water toys that were better than my plastic bowls. There were moms in shorts trying to play with their kids without having to sit in the water, and moms in the water, and one lone dad holding hands with his son. The water was shallow and the pool was small and I realized that nobody was going to drown. Jett wasn't going to run away from me because there were boats to play with and strangers to avoid. Here was his friend, with a toy boat even. Things were looking up.

Kai and I sat in the water and played with the toys the floated by. My friend and I chatted and kept an eye on our kids. We broke up some failed attempts at sharing and met some other moms and talked about what to do tomorrow, and I kind of relaxed. I kind of started thinking that this really isn't so difficult after all. I kind of started to think that I am living in the lap of luxury, cooling off in a pool in the middle of the workweek, with two wriggly kids and a soaking wet towel. I kind of started thinking that we might come to the pool every day. I started thinking that summer just got a whole lot easier. I love easier.