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One activity we just loved in the summer was going to the park district pool. I would walk over to the pool with my girlfriend or met one of my friends there. I have never been a great swimmer but as good as most probably were and we sure had fun. Those days there was no such thing as the ADA etc. and pools were big and deep. There would be a little pool for toddlers and their mothers but the main pool had swimming lanes, high metal slides (that burned your butt if it was hot out and you were the first one down) and diving boards of three different dizzying heights. The teenaged lifeguards watched out for you and every hour pulled everyone out for a 10 minute break.
You see, because I am a redhead my Mom had her rules. She would let me swim only in the morning and later in the afternoon. She was concerned about me getting burned. My brother and sister were as blond as could be but they would get a nice golden tan while I just burned and peeled, burned and peeled. She didn't therefore worry as much about them as me. If I wasn't a big enough Nerd already with my noseplugs and pre-requisite swim cap, Mom made me go with zinc oxide on my nose, shoulders and cheeks in addition to sun tan lotion. Seeing how I was nearsighted to boot she made me wear an old pair of glasses broken and taped together at the bridge so "the good expensive ones don't get stolen in the field house". Like people steal glasses because they WANT to look like nerds? I don't think so. The worst is yet to come. She sent me with a big T shirt of my Dad's I was supposed to wear over my swimsuit! I left that in the field house after i first used it to rub some of the zinc oxide off. I mostly got away with that except for the days that a friend of Mom's worked the concession stand. Mom would call her in advance to watch out for me and remind me to put the shirt on. How humiliating! Oh boy what a sight I must have been with the T shirt down to my pasty white skinny legs, frizzy red hair sticking out of the swim cap, broken glasses and nose plugs on my zinc oxide white nose. But it was big fun anyway.
You see, because I am a redhead my Mom had her rules. She would let me swim only in the morning and later in the afternoon. She was concerned about me getting burned. My brother and sister were as blond as could be but they would get a nice golden tan while I just burned and peeled, burned and peeled. She didn't therefore worry as much about them as me. If I wasn't a big enough Nerd already with my noseplugs and pre-requisite swim cap, Mom made me go with zinc oxide on my nose, shoulders and cheeks in addition to sun tan lotion. Seeing how I was nearsighted to boot she made me wear an old pair of glasses broken and taped together at the bridge so "the good expensive ones don't get stolen in the field house". Like people steal glasses because they WANT to look like nerds? I don't think so. The worst is yet to come. She sent me with a big T shirt of my Dad's I was supposed to wear over my swimsuit! I left that in the field house after i first used it to rub some of the zinc oxide off. I mostly got away with that except for the days that a friend of Mom's worked the concession stand. Mom would call her in advance to watch out for me and remind me to put the shirt on. How humiliating! Oh boy what a sight I must have been with the T shirt down to my pasty white skinny legs, frizzy red hair sticking out of the swim cap, broken glasses and nose plugs on my zinc oxide white nose. But it was big fun anyway.
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| Look!!! Caught a fish!!! |
Here's something I bet for sure they don't do at park district pools any more. At the end of the summer season on the last day the pool was open they filled the pool with thousands of live goldfish. Each kid got a cup and you could keep all the goldfish you caught! What a great idea! Come to think of it the fish never seemed to last long. I suppose they weren't meant to swim in chlorine any more than we were meant to swim in fish poop. I never heard of anyone getting sick though and it sure was fun.
p.s. Turns out Mom did know best. Now that we are older many of my friends with the much envied sun-kissed golden tans are dealing with all sorts of skin issues due to their sun worship. Me, the redhead? So far so good, still pasty white. Thanks Mom!
p.s. Turns out Mom did know best. Now that we are older many of my friends with the much envied sun-kissed golden tans are dealing with all sorts of skin issues due to their sun worship. Me, the redhead? So far so good, still pasty white. Thanks Mom!
