Pool Cravy

No other way to say this. My pool cravings are driving me cravy.

It's ninety-plus degrees out there and I meant to get out for a walk by 9 a.m. Instead, it was nearly 10 by the time I walked out the door and after two miles, I felt completely deflated. 

Hot, hot, hot out there and all I can think of is Swimply.

I read about it this week and it turns out people are renting out their private pools to people like me for a swim day. My husband asks if it's safe, and though we are vaccinated, I understand why.

I looked up swimming recommendations on the CDC website and they say chlorine kills the COVID virus (yay)! They say you may want to wear a cloth mask in the pool (or maybe two masks??) -- but that mostly, the virus is spread by close contact and there wouldn't be anyone there besides my husband and me.

Should we do it? Right now, it's all I can think about. The alternative is one of those inflatable pools we get and put up in the backyard; we'd have to assemble it and then dump out the water later, or put a cover on it, etc., etc.

With Swimply, you walk into a beautiful in-ground swimming pool area that likely has kitchen or dressing room priveleges.

I realize this may be a pandemically-inspired craving, but that doesn't make it less real. Of course, the way to stay perfectly safe is to do nothing, sit inside your house and not go to anyone else's. But where's the fun (life) in that?

Some years ago I spent two weeks at a writer's colony in Northern Minnesota and at the end of every day, went swimming in a pool at a local resort. Writing all day and then taking a two-hour swim was my idea of paradise.

It always was. It still is.

My son, who is living in New York, tells me he goes swimming at his local gym these days almost daily. So wouldn't a swim in someone's private pool be safer than that?

I could go to the lake around here too, but there's algae hugging the shoreline, and that's just a whole lot less tempting to me right now. Plus, the whole chlorine things makes pools more attractive too.

I am likely going to spend the rest of the day pondering this. You are welcome to weigh in, of course. I can't believe I'm even hesitating, pandemic or no.

Humans are meant to swim, aren't they? How can we not?

Pool picture: Coppell Pools