Think-Back Tuesday: Water, Water, Everywhere`

What I'm enjoying most about reading blogs these days are the many memories that people share of their childhood and adolescence. For better or worse, we all have unique recollections of long-ago (or not-so-long ago) times and events.

That said, I decided to create my own meme called Think-Back Tuesday. I'll try to come up with some questions to jump-start your memory. I'm looking forward to hearing how people of all ages answer the same questions.

I don't know how to make a cute little button to grab to link to, but if you just copy and paste the questions in bold to your blog, and leave a comment telling us you're joining in, we'll follow you to your blog. If you don't have a blog, just leave a comment with some of your memories.

Today the topic is WATER.

1. First of all, how do you pronounce the word "water"?

I grew up hearing and saying "WAH-der." When I moved to Baltimore (Balmer, Merlin), the natives pronounced it "wooder, " as in "How much wooder would a wooder chuck chuck...?"


2. Do you like to drink water, and if so, do you take it with or without ice, and do you put anything in it? Do you drink water from the tap? From your fridge? Do you filter it or drink only bottled water? If you don't like to drink water, what's your go-to thirst quencher?

I like to drink water if it's 1) in a glass, not a mug or anything styrofoam or plastic and 2) got ice in it. I drink it either from the tap or the fridge's dispenser, but usually from the tap because it's faster and I'm impatient. I love Desani water if I'm buying bottled water from a vending machine.

3. Do you like to swim, or are you afraid of the water? How about swimming in the ocean, a lake or pond? Can you dive and do you like other water sports?

I love to swim, and I'm not afraid of the water, but I have a great deal of respect for the water as a powerful force. I nearly drowned once at Rehoboth Beach with two of my children. Ever since then I have a healthy fear of ocean water, but it's more because my wild imagination conjures up things my eyes can't see in the ocean. I don't like most water animals, and for that reason, I avoid oceans, rivers, lakes--any water I can't see through. I can sit and watch it from a beach chair or fall asleep on the beach with great pleasure, but swmming? No thanks.

For that reason , and the fact that there's no current in a pool, I am pretty much becoming a "pool only" kind of gal for swimming. I learned to dive in seventh grade up at Broad Creek. Once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. If I had self-confidence in a bathing suit these days, I'd probably dive in public, but I don't, so I don't dive anymore. I liked tubing at Kanopolis Lake in Kansas with my great friend, Barb, and her family when my kidders were young. That was a blast. I tried water skiing a couple different times, but flopped (quite literally). I'm rather sure I don't possess the strength to handle a jet ski, but I think it'd be fun if I went out with responsible people who could drag me to safety if needed.

4. When you were a kid, how did you cool off in the summer with water? Were you blessed to have a pool in your yard or nearby? Did you have to pay to go swimming at a municipal pool? Or were you relegated to running through the sprinkler? Did you take swimming lessons?

My earliest memories are definitely sprinkler ones. We played endlessly, my sisters and I, in the sprinkler. I can feel my ribs tighten when thinking about jumping into the ice-cold spray until I "got used to it." We loved showing each other the rainbows in the water, and pretending we were fairies leaping through those rainbows.

As a child in a tiny town in central Kansas, my same friend Barb (mentioned above) had a horse trough that was cleaned out and set up as a pool. It was probably not more than 23 inches deep, but we had a grand time. We made whirlpools till we were dizzy. We stayed in the pool till our skin was red or tan and our lips were blue. The funny thing is, I don't think her parents or mine were all that aware of when we were swimming. We could've drowned, but back then I don't think parents were obsessed with dinky pool safety.

The year I turned five I got baptized, but I think it was mostly because a boy named Chris (age 9) was also getting baptized. I "loved" him and thought maybe something magical would happen to us by "going down into the water" on the same Sunday. What a shock to be dipped into the cold baptismal pool and come up to find out that Chris had no more interest in me after my dunk that he had before.

In fourth grade, my parents gave us swim lessons at the Lyons pool. Later on, they left us in the good care of various church friends while they went house-hunting in Maryland. I got to stay with the Brubakers. They had a girl named Lurena who sang beautifully. I remembered sitting beside her on the piano bench learning the lyrics to "The Twelfth of Never." It was 'the' wedding song of the summer of '75. Back then I thought the title was dreamy; now I think, "cheeeeesy!" "Until the twelfth of never, I'll still be loving you." Whaaa?

The magical week that I spent with the Brubakers also fills my memory with these tidbits:

• I had an enormous crush on their son who was probably 13. Kyle had a bike route that he had to get up at 5:30 for. I thought he was so grown-up and mature for not sleeping in when other kids were. I asked (begged?) if I could go along with him to deliver newspapers, and when he said "sure!" well, it might as well have been a marriage proposal in reverse.
  

• The Brubakers lived near enough to the municipal pool that we could walk. And lucky for us, every day was a hot one. Lurena, Kyle, and I swam and swam. I'm sure it was a much bigger thrill for me than for them. They had to put up with this gaga goofy girl as she tagged along. But they were such sweet Christian teens, and showed me kindness and hospitality that has stayed with me all these decades later.

5. Are you a bath person or a shower person?

I'd say 90% of the time I take a shower. But if I'm sore or in pain, a good bath calls my name. I also relish the rare Friday night when I fill the tub at 8 pm, light a vanilla candle,
and take a good magazine into the tub. And when I get out and head to bed that I made with clean sheets earlier that day, and climb in at 9 pm, that's pure relaxation.