Megan Howard Wilderness at the Pool

Student Choice Number 4 Blog
Unlike most pools in Northern Virginia, the pool I am a member of us in surrounded by woods. While most people worry about sun burns while out swimming, I am more concerned about hoe muddy the picnic tables are. I would not have it any other way though. It gives our community pool a sense of intimacy by being surrounded by the lofty trees towering above us. It is as if we are in a exclusive club and the rest of the world has been put away behind these forests. You jump off the diving board and pop to and the first thing seen is a giant oak behind my neighbor talking to the lifeguard. You can also travel over to the picnic tables and wander through the patchy grass and feel the coolness of the ground touching your wrinkled foot. Or the kids wander over to the tether ball and laugh as their heels sink into the mud surrounding the pole. On swim meets on Saturday mornings, the water is always extra icy due to the lack of sun. I think this gives our swim team a little extra kick while others think it is just God being cruel. I think nature though gives us this sense of community as a gift and the forests and nature surrounding the pool is his way of giving us more of this unity.