My happy place

Just got home from my happy place - the pool. I love swimming so much and the pool is such a happy place. I have loved pools my whole life - we went to Hawaii to visit my Aunt when we were little and was I interested in the beach? No - give me the POOL! The beautiful faux blue water, the smell of the chlorine - ahh....heaven. Even now, I still love the pool. It's full of happy sounds - kids having a great time playing around, the gentle splash of flip turns as adults do their laps, the music to the water aerobics. The atmosphere is filled with happy sounds. And then there is the sunlight shining through the windows, making that beautiful pattern on the walls as it bounces off the water. It's really lovely when you're underwater, too, and you swim out of the dark, into the sunshine. And then, of course, there is the actual swimming itself. The rhythm of the strokes, the noises of the pool fading in and out as you breath, the sound of your heartbeat and breathing. Lovely. It just feels like a meditation to me. Plus all that great exercise. You burn the most calories when you swim, or so I remember hearing.

But the best best thing about the pool isn't even the pool itself - it's the hot tub. I LOVE hot tubs. Someday, I will own one. It's like a bath, but so much better - BECAUSE THE WATER NEVER GETS COLD!!! LOVE it. I could sit in the hot tub submerged up to my ears all day long. Heaven. I sit in the hot tub for awhile before I get in and start swimming, then I sit in the hot tub again after I have finished swimming my laps. Lets just be honest, the hot tub is probably the real reason that I go to the pool. The promise of warmth at the end of a long swim. 

Now I'm going to get a big glass of orange juice and two gingersnaps that I baked last night, and snuggle up with my new Cooking Light magazine that came today. Oh bliss...