Pool Party!

I've been invited to a Pool Party today at my friend's home in Princeton! It's going to be a beautiful, warm summer day--perfect weather for splashing around in a pool. That's what I do at a pool party since I can't swim. I'm very open and honest about this. I don't pretend to swim. I don't tell people I can swim. And, I know that I'd never be able to graduate from MIT because you have to pass a swimming test to do that. [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/08/time_to_sink_or_graduate/ When I was president of the Young Women and we had water-related activities, I made it very clear that if there was need for a dramatic sea rescue of a teenager, I wouldn't be the gal to do it.

The summer I moved to Boston I went to a Young Single Adult BBQ/Pool Party in Rhode Island with my friend. I sat in a chair until everyone cleared the pool to eat and by then my friend convinced me to get in the pool. Then she convinced me to swim across the width (the shorter part) of the pool. I kept insisting that I couldn't swim. She didn't believe me. Finally I caved and told her I'd do it (nobody was watching; they were too busy eating). About halfway across the pool I started to wig out and hyperventilate and dog paddle and splash and try to reach the other end of the pool--which I finally did. My friend stood there on the edge of the pool, dumbfounded, and said, "That is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen." I yelled back, "I TOLD YOU I CAN'T SWIM!!!"

My mom always tells people I had more swimming lessons that Mark Spitz. (For those of you too young to know who he is...he won 7 gold medals for swimming in the 1972 Olympics). When I was in college she told me she'd pay me $100 if I took a swimming class. I wouldn't do it (the regulation suits were unflattering but that wasn't the only reason...it wasn't worth it to make a fool of myself in an adult swimming class).

So, I'm sure I will have a great time today. I just dug my swimming suit out of the drawer (it's in great condition; it gets used twice a year), found my sunscreen and I'll grab my camera and the blueberry cake I made and I'll have fun splashing around at the Pool Party!!





















Here is a picture from a Pool Party in July of 1964 at the Jensen's house in La Crescenta, CA. L to R: Robert, me, Chris, Cary, Bonnie, Julie, and that's fearless John outside the pool.