When Son #1 was three years old, DH used to take him to swim at the Stanford pool. If they were there at the end of the day, they witnessed the closing drill. It involved the lifeguards blowing their whistles and hollering, “POOL’S CLOSING! EVERYBODY OUT!” Those lifeguards had spent a long shift in the sun, and they were probably relieved to be calling it a day.
Son was fascinated by the hollering. Envious might be a better word. Whistle blowing and yelling and having lots of people pay attention? The best.
At the end of that summer, we packed up our little on-campus apartment and headed on to the next adventure. We commemorated the day with a self-timed family portrait. Below. “Chastened” sits on the lap of Happy/Tan. The Easy Child sits on the lap of “What was I thinking?” “Chastened” was feeling constrained because we asked him to stop running around the empty apartment bellowing (you guessed it) “POOL’S CLOSING! EVERYBODY OUT!” We had to admit it was apt.
This weekend Son #2 is moving out of his college apartment. He can’t remember the original “Pool’s Closing, Everybody Out!” But I do, and I will be thinking about it this week, in a whisper, though, not a holler.
Related: the Kindergarten Bus story, the “new beginnings” bookend to “Pool’s Closing.”
Love this photo so much and it left me envisioning your life back then in Palo Alto 🙂 Sending BIG graduation congratulations to Son #2 – Easy Child NK! I hope you’ll do a blog post on the “apartment clean out” and re-entry home to CO! Nick and I think of you OFTEN and of all that he/we learned from you. As well as the major pivot you’ve had to make teaching this semester with remote learning and the hard work that entails for the professor. Thank you for attaching the Kindergarten Bus story, I enjoyed re- reading it. It and many of your posts are time-less.
Christina,
❤️❤️❤️
I will not be present for the apartment clean out. A silver lining of the global pandemic!
And I doubt I will get enough of a report to fuel a blog post.
Thanks for your kind words and support.
xo
LK
Hi Laura , I really enjoy your posts. Your labels for family members crack me up. Good luck and big congrats to #2 during this chaotic spring. Xoxo jen
Thanks, Jen!!! xo