WHEN THE HEAT HITS!

June Gloom is gone and 100+ degree heat is here, making one think about the luxury of swimming pools.

A year after we were married in 1975, Jer and I set about looking for a house to buy. Four of our combined six kids were already out on their own and two were still living at home. I immediately thought a house with a pool would be just what we needed, a place to center family activities and learn to become a blended family. We found the perfect place, and the kids found each other.


We had little tykes in the pool tended by teenage aunties.

We had a granddaughter who was so fearful of the "big" water that we accommodated her with her own personal pool.


We had some who were totally fearless, though the water wings helped a bit. Before long the floaties became an impediment to the adventuresome spirit and they were discarded and bumped down to the next grandbaby.


The teenagers enjoyed the pool as much as anyone, whether it was a place to discover one's "hubba-hubba" image or, in the case of a photo not used here, a high school girls choir skinnydipping quietly in the pool after an evening concert.


A son home from the Navy shows off his flexibility poolside and surprises all of us no end!

And finally a place for grandparents to enjoy their progeny.


I will always remember that Jerry had suggested that we forego the pool, because in a previous house he had one and no one used it. (That was because it wasn't heated, I think.) However, I held out for the pool because I knew that for our new family, it would be absolutely perfect. It was.

Lucky me. Lucky Jerry. Lucky kids and grandkids. And what wonderful memories we have captured on film.