Kryptonite

Some days being a Beach Mom requires a cape and ingenuity, especially when faced with our own menacing Kryptonite -Flash Flood Warnings. And don't think its cause I'm a wimp and don't take my kids out in the rain fretting over dirty clothes or catching colds. No, flash flooding means things flood and things get backed up, like sewers, and then crap washes out into canals and heads to the ocean, aiming directly for our favorite beach parks! Nasty. We've seen this before, spring 2005 brought 40 days and nights of rain. We're talking Biblical proportions of rain and as a result sewers were backed up, manhole covers popped off from all the pressure, people were sandbagging their front lawns and beaches were shut down. And Beach Moms were stranded indoors with their children. Thank heavens for bathtubs.

My children are happiest (and truth be told so am I) when immersed in water. Could be the ocean, a bucket, a sink or a public fountain, doesn't seem to make much difference to them. So being a resourceful Beach Mom when it came time to buy a home I knew it needed to include a pool. A maintenance free pool mind you. I spent enough summers as a lifeguard scoping dead rats and frog out of pools to know that was more hassle than I could handle as a Mom. So after visiting many different townhouses and condo complexes we found one with the perfect pool. It took us about 6 months to find the right unit, which in my view was secondary anyways, that's just where we sleep, pack lunches and throw our stuff on the floor.

So this afternoon, after 5 days of rain,books, play dough, fighting and more PBS than I think even my daughter could stand we tip toed through the rain drops and hit the pool. The girls had a great time swimming, they used up a lot of energy and I think we all felt better being back in the water, regardless of the weather.