We lived in a neighborhood where backyards met. There were no hedges or fences separating properties at that time. This made for a large, grassy play area for the neighborhood kids. And play we did! We had many a baseball, football and badminton game back there. We also had a small swimming pool in that space. It was probably one of the very first “above-ground” pools, but not even close to the high-tech pools of today. The plastic pool liner draped over a plastic wall and at times we had to use clothes pins to hold it it place! There was no filter and no chlorine. The water was about waist-deep and there wasn’t a lot of room to actually swim. If there were more than five of us in the pool, it was crowded. We still managed to have fun and enjoy ourselves.

There was talk among the neighborhood parents of installing an inground pool in that play area. It was fun to visualize a beautiful pool in the back yard. But the idea never went anywhere and I suspect it was because of too many factors, like price, liability and maintenance. Too much to sort out for all our parents.

What we did instead was join a local swim club, complete with a large pool, baby pool and a snack bar. The trade-off for the neighborhood parents was the drive to the pool. One mom in particular, Mae, drove almost all the time. The ride was always fun and so was the swimming! Of course the snack bar was an added bonus because they had food, drinks, and candy. And the snack bar blasted the latest music. This was all good! We spent many Summer days at that swim club and enjoyed it! It turned out to be much better than any inground backyard pool would have been!