This afternoon, I took my 22-month-old son Nicholas to the community pool – which is indoors. We arrived at 5:20 and the “free swim” ended at 6 p.m. (even though I was told 6:30 p.m. on the phone). As soon as we locked our stuff up and walked out from the locker room to the pool area, the lifeguards were blowing whistles and telling everyone to get out of the pool.
Meanwhile, my son is very excited about the water and was pointing saying, “Going swimming! Going swimming!” I asked the lifeguard what was going on and she said that there was lightning in the area and that everyone had to get out of the pool. Come again? “For how long?” She replied that it would be at least half an hour and that clock reset after every lightning strike. Well, by the time the first half hour ended, the “free swim” period would be over.
I thought the whole point of having an indoor pool was to protect us from the elements outside. What part of the pool is connected to something outside that could possibly get electrified and fry swimmers? And if there is such a connection, shouldn’t the designer be locked up, or at least have their license taken away? We’re at an indoor pool and a lightning strike forces people out of the pool. I know there must be a logical explanation, but on the surface, it doesn’t make any sense.
At this point, I’ve pretty much locked up the “Worst Dad of the Year” award in my son’s eyes. I put on his little swimmers, his sandals, bathing suit, got him rinsed (as per the pool rules) and now he sees the pool and is ready to jump in – yes, he can actually jump in – and now, daddy has to take him back to the locker room and get him dried off and dressed.
We went to Fazzoli’s for dinner and everything was better. Shouts of “going swimming” were replaced with “pasta! pasta!” and “lemonade! lemonade!” We’ll try the pool again tomorrow.
