Sharing the Waters

Hurricane Hanna meant rain and heavy, humid air on Saturday and I suggested a trip to the YMCA pool. There’s a long-running association between changes in barometric pressure and Charlie having “thunderstorm” moments of unhappiness, of seeming unsettled and with a kind of worried, frenetic energy and expression. Just getting in the water has long proven to be a good antidote to all that unsettledness in the sky and in a certain boy, and a little exercise workout does not hurt.

The pool was jam-packed when we arrived and four lanes, instead of the usual three, were marked off for lap swimmers. Four boys were kicking and splashing on the red and blue foam boat; one girl was explaining, with quite a bit of fervor, why nothing else would do for her to play with except the boat and there the stamping of one foot and several noooooooo’s.

Charlie stood just beyond the edge of the pool and needed some coaxing to take off his shirt. “No pool,” he told me. “Maybe just a short swim,” I suggested. My mom and dad had accompanied us and were standing by the deep end. “No,” said Charlie and gave me “a look” so I assented “ok, fine” and walked over the deep end and started swimming. This was a not-so-easy task due to the amount of kickboards and other toys, and children, in the water. I did sight Charlie in the shallow end, his buzzcut head rising above those of the other kids who were moving rapidly around him.

The girl who’d wanted the boat was holding it at one end; she called out something to one of the other boys and went under the water. Charlie walked over and took hold of one end of the boat; the girl reappeared for a moment and was face to face with Charlie and then Charlie was kicking the boat to the deep end by himself. He kicked, he sat on one end and figured out how to move the boat with his legs swinging in the water. The pool emptied and it was just him and me and two skinny blonde-haired boys for awhile, and then another wave of children came in, diving and somersaulting. As it’d been quite awhile since Charlie had commandeered the boat, I suggested that he pass it on to the other kids in a few minutes and he slowly scooted himself off and into the water, and did some swims back and forth across the length of the pool, and got that peaceful easy-feeling glow. (Knowing that he’d shared as requested added to it, too.)

The rain and thunder and lightning started just as Charlie and I were getting out of the shower. The family locker room was packed with parents and children, some crying, who’d had to get hastily out of the pool, due to the lightning: Guess we’d timed our swim right.

(We got soaked running back to the car.)