Summer Rules

I know you are avoiding the news. It's summer. Time to put on sunscreen and still get burnt. Time to walk and squint and chew gum all at the same time.

We went to the public pool yesterday. Many kids. Like ours, the kids move from one part of the pool to the other, like flipper looking for trouble. You can't keep up. In a way you don't have to.

Everything is blue. The deepest part of the pool is 3 feet. Nobody is trying to hurt themselves or anyone else. The creepiest thing I encountered was a little boy in goggles who repeatedly swam between my legs. I had no idea who he was. Then some other kid, who apparently did not know the first one, joined the between-the-legs game. I was just another obstacle for their underwater entertainment.

After two hours, we were all sunburned and fried. Our bodies felt like we'd been doing Yoga for several generations. Our daughter was so tired she couldn't nap, and so she spent the afternoon cutting pictures of flowers out of catalogues along with her friend from next door.

Some other friends dropped by. We ate Chinese food leftovers from the fridge -- cold, straight out of the carton. Then we dug into the chips and salsa and wine and beer. By 9:00 PM the sun was an orange glow at the ridge of the foothills. I was still feeling like that kid, looking for something challenging to swim under, just to make it to the other side.