Summer End Swim Party

Our condo complex has a pool, which is situated right in front of our unit. When we have swim parties, it's really convenient. When we're trying to sleep and punks are sneaking in at 2 am, not so much. Today was one of those good times; we had a party to mark the end of the summer (not officially the end, I know, but Labor Day always seems to be the metaphorical end).

We invited mostly Moms Club friends, some closer friends than others. I hadn't seen the first guest for a couple of months. As she and her son strolled up to the pool gate she said, "You've put on a lot of weight. What have you been eating? You really put on a lot of weight." She is a foreigner and comes from a country where people don't really care about being fat or thin (she is a vegan so you can imagine the category in which she falls). But really, she's been in the country for three years now and she doesn't know that American women obsess about their weight? Now I regret explaining that I've gained weight since cutting off R from BF. I should have told her that in America it's considered extremely rude to tell a woman she is fat. My husband knows. And anyone who's watched that episode of Friends knows. Later she says she wants to go back to her country because she doesn't have a lot of friends here. I wonder why.

H and R made great progress in the pool this summer. At first H wouldn't go into the water, but would just sit on the steps and play. But a more experienced fellow 3-yr old came and showed him how to go into the water wearing "floaties" (is this LA terminology because I always knew them as armbands or water wings) and using a noodle. And now he's comfortable swimming with the floaties alone. R would not even go into the pool the first half of the summer. But one day he stuck his foot in and now he's hooked. As for me, I learned that you need to have multiple sets of swimwear because swimming and water play can be everyday events for the typical LA summer.

Next week I'm going to start training for a 5K. The nerve of some people.