After being closed for a month for repairs, my two regular pools have reopened. To say I’m overjoyed would be an understatement. I’m lucky that I have 3rd and 4th backup pools to swim at during the past month. They are fabulous facilities. One is a city pool covered by my regular pool membership and the other cost me $6/swim.
My backup pools are far away though. Instead of a 15-20 minute drive, each takes 35-45 minutes to get to. They also are not available for all of my usual swim times.
(I know, I know…feel free to play the world’s saddest song for me, anytime…)
So after checking for updates every day and seeing the message “Pool Closed for Maintenance. Reopening Date TBD”, I was thrilled when the messages changed to, “Open Regular hours starting tomorrow“.
My first day back, as I was gliding through my laps, I was wondering why I was so happy to be back at my regular pool. The longer drives to the backup pools kind of sucked, but I had gotten used to them and they weren’t so terrible. The facilities themselves were fabulous. They were big, shiny and well maintained. I never had a problem getting a lane. The people who worked there and the people who swam there were friendly. So why was I so happy to be back “home”?
Then I realized I felt the way I used to feel after returning to high school for my Sophomore, Junior and Senior years after summer break. I was returning to a familiar environment where I knew my place. I had an established group of friends. I knew the teachers, the routines and the system.
When I got back to my regular pool, I talked to the front desk guy. He knows my name and I know his. Then I chatted with the guards about what they did during the month long break. I asked about their college courses, their families and their friends. One asked how my foot was healing. Another talked about our shared experience of relocating from FL to NC and how we were both glad to have been in NC during Hurricane Ian.
The warm water, the fixed heaters and the scrubbed locker were nice to experience. The 15 minute commute was fabulous too, of course.
But it’s not the just pools that made my day.