In the swim

Yesterday I wrote about the extra effort it took to persuade my kids to go hiking during our Colorado vacation, but also how the extra effort was worthwhile, not because they raved about the experience (they neither raved nor complained) but just because it was something I really wanted to do.

This, on the other hand, is what they really want to do when we’re on vacation: swim at night in the condo pool. Like kids everywhere, one of the greatest novelties about going on vacation, to them, is the opportunity to swim in a heated pool at night. We could have traveled twenty miles instead of two thousand for that particular pleasure, but no matter. It’s a universally appealing activity to kids, and I have to admit I get a kick out of it. The pool is right outside our door. It’s close and easy and free of cost. Moreover, it requires no effort on my part; I can bring out a book or a newspaper or (she guiltily admitted) my phone, and bask in some down time.

But I think what I like best about seeing the kids swim at night is not that it allows me to be lazy but just that it reminds me so much of what I loved as a kid. All kids love swimming pools at night, and I was no different. When I was growing up, we drove from Massachusetts to Colorado and back every summer, with four or five overnight stops along the way. It didn’t matter whether we were in Buffalo or Columbus or Des Moines or Omaha: as soon as we arrived at our destination, we headed for the pool. And in some ways, it seems absurd to me that with all the culture and physical beauty of Aspen laid out around them, my kids still most often choose the pool, but in another way it seems absolutely fitting. When you’re eight or eleven or really any age that still qualifies as childhood at all, it’s a thrill to swim by pool light after dark. I’m not sure why, but as timeless as its appeal once was to me, I now get just as much enjoyment out of watching my kids savor the same experience.

So we hiked and fished and did all kinds of Alpine activities during the day; after dinner we headed for the pool. It didn’t matter what else was going on in town; that was always my children’s first choice. They didn’t care if their bathing suits were still clammy from the day before. They jumped in, and were absolutely happy. Kids always are, when you show them the way to a pool, after dark.