Glen Springs Pools

I was quite impressed when I first walked out of the bathhouse and saw it for the first time, three pools of crystal-clear blue water. I was hot, I really wanted to go jump in right then. The first and largest pool to the south had a diving board at the far end. It was the “DEEP END”,  “We” kids under no circumstance were to go near the Deep End, if we did we might sink to the bottom and drown, Betty explained.  The middle pool was only slightly smaller than the Deep End but was shallower, ranging from three to five feet as marked on the edge of the pool. At the far north was a much smaller pool which at first I thought must have been the kiddy pool but later I discovered it was the actual spring source from which the water flowed into the other pools. No swimming was allowed in the actual spring, not that you would want to as it looked pretty yucky with all the algae growing in it.

We kids headed to the pool were we were told we would find the swimming teacher, while Mom, Betty, sat at a picnic table in the shade under a large oak tree. They always had things to catch up on.

There were about a dozen kids in the class with the five of us being half of them, little Timmy was too young and stayed with Mom and Betty. The lesson started with us sitting on the sidewalk alongside the pool while the instructor gave a lecture. First were the rules, no running around the pool, no diving into the pool, and a few more which I soon forgot. The rules were followed by some instructions on how to swim but by that time I was getting hot, and I only heard half of what the instructor was saying as my thoughts were on how good it would feel to jump into that water.

It finally came time to get in, and, with no running, diving, or jumping, we gently slid into the water for the first lesson. WOW! It was much colder than I expected, especially when it hit, well you know, but it still felt good in the summer heat. The water was only about three feet deep coming up to my shoulders so I could stand on the bottom and keep my head out of the water.

Being smaller, it was just over my brother’s head, so he clung to the side of the pool. But was fine as that is what we all did for the first lesson. Hang on to the side of the pool, legs extended out behind us and kick, and kick, and more kicking. Simple enough, but some kids needed help and while the instructor tended to them, the rest of us either practiced more kicking or just stood around in the water. My scrawny little brother took to right away and the cold water didn’t seem to bother him one bit. He wanted to let go of the wall and swim about, with the water just over his head, our sister wouldn’t let him. There was more to the lesson but all I remembered was the kicking… and being cold. After what seemed like a long time of being cold, the lesson was finally over, and I got out of the water as quickly as I could, wrapped up in my towel and stood in the warm sun. I didn’t much like cold water I decided.

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