This old pool

GroveAtopia has a pool and lots of times it is the talk of the town.  

Close the pool!

Keep the pool open!

The pool is old!

The pool leaks!

The pool is too expensive to maintain!

We need a new pool!

I love the pool!

I hate the pool!

My Goodness!

GroveAtopians certainly care about their pool.   Nearly everyone has something to say about it.  

If we could wave our magic wand and completely have our way, GroveAtopia would have a new pool.  It would be a pool for swim teams and a pool for swimmers.  It would be a place to play and a place to splash.  People would come from all around to use our pool.

But we can't find our magic wand at the moment so we must live with what we have.   An indoor pool that looks to be the size of a city block, that once was grand but now is not.   If you don't use it much, then it's easy to forget about it.  If you use it a lot you cannot forget about it, even if you want to.

The schools own the pool, but they share it with the rest of us.  Some of the rest of us think they don't share it enough.  Some think they share it too much.

Some think it's too cold.  Others say it's too hot.

It doesn't have anything fancy.  There's no water slide, no wave pool, no fountains, no hot tub, no steam room, no concessions, no frills, other than a few pool noodles and the largest floating toys I've ever seen.   I've seen a half dozen kids try to pile onto one as if it was a small raft.

When we are not actually at the pool or in the pool we wring our hands.  Can we afford to keep the pool open?   What of the leaks?  Such a waste of water!   And the cost of heating it!  Oh my.

But when you are at the pool or in it as I was today what you see is a bunch of people having fun. Then you ask yourself, isn't this, what's happening right here in front of me, what really matters?   Children splashing, their parents playing, people swimming, people just bobbing up and down, surrounded by the echoing sounds of just plain fun.   

Suddenly the hand wringing fades away and fun reigns.   It's the pool, our pool and before you decide if you think we should close it, come down and watch.   

You won't want to close it.  Instead you will want to go and find that magic wand.