Again, Michigan summers are hot. Hotter than Washington summers. And muggy with mosquitoes. Timing our outdoor excursions properly was everything.
One morning we got an early start by paying a visit to Dad’s neighbors, Judy and Safu. They have a modest in-ground pool. Although they had guests from England visiting and everyone was still waking up around 10 AM, they let us use their pool.
It also has a modest diving board.
Orion and I swam for an hour or so, and then the English guests came out to swim and bask. The two adults basked. The two kids swam.
Safu stopped by and invited us to help ourselves to beverages in the fridge. Once Orion got a shot of that Root Beer he was good to go for another few hours. Although he said he was scared of the diving board, the young lad from the UK said, “It’s fun really.”
And that was good enough for Orion. He dove into 9 feet of water, exhilarated and carbonated! We stayed until nap time. I was quite sunburned. Orion had bronzed.
A few days later…
we drove to Ann Arbor to use the Huron Valley Swim Club. I had learned to swim there during my summer vacations. Aunt Mary Catherine told us that they were still members, so I planned to sign in as ‘Paul Wright’.
It took us a number of trips and web research to find the place. The last time I’d been there had been in the early 90s when I rode my bike there from Granny’s house.
Granny’s house nowadays
It was a Sunday when we finally knew where to go. It’s a hard switchback down a gravel road, so it was easy to miss coming from the opposite direction. En route, in the Camry the radio just happened to be tuned to WEMU and I heard the voice of my old friend, Arwulf Arwulf. It was his show The Sunday Best! So I pulled over and called in to the station. He was happy to hear from me, encouraged me to check his playlists, promised to respond to e-mails, and while he was otherwise engaged that afternoon he mentioned us on the air.
“You might go swimming today, like Justin and his son are doing”
[I once had to explain to the A2 Fire Department a huge bonfire I'd built in Arwulf's backyard to clear dead wood away]
We arrived at the HVSC and I noticed that they’d upgraded the entryway with a computer and what looked like a bar code scanner. Momentary panic as I realized I didn’t have a digital membership card. However, I knew the route, and I quickly saw an ordinary pen and paper sign-in sheet, so I wrote simple “Wright” and walked around the high school boy who was watching the door.
We showered and went in.
Orion decided to go up the high dive. At the top he started to have second thoughts, but an older boy at the bottom said, “It’s fun,” and I swam out to the middle in case he needed me. He jumped off into 14 feet of water, but it hurt his belly. From then on he stuck with the low dive.
Feeling the fear and…
doing it anyway!
Emerging victoriously!
Posted by Jusby the Clown 
