Story by Kenneth L. Pierpont (Author)
They say it’s good for a swimming pool to be agitated regularly. I guess it keeps mold and scum from growin’ in the water. Pool agitation is one of the Pierpont family’s hidden talents. Few families do it better. There are ten of us and you should see us boil the water.
If you ever go away for a week and you need someone to come over every day and agitate your pool, look no further. We are the family you are looking for. If you negotiate wisely you may even qualify for a discount. Some have gotten a week of free lawn care out of the deal, even.
A couple summers ago some friends in our church gave us their garage door opener and left us with detailed instructions to agitate their pool. We took the responsibility with appropriate gravity and dutifully made our way down there every day to stir the water.
One evening I was treading water and my then 17 year-old-son was toeing the end of the diving board. I asked him; “Kyle, have you ever done a cut-away?” “No, he answered, how do you do it?” “Simple, I said; “just stand backward, jump out toward the center of the pool tuck your upper body under and go in head first.” He tried it two or three times awkwardly and then on about the third time he tucked and cut nicely into the water. “Not bad, Kyle, I think you got it. Keep working on it.”
The whole time I was treading water and working on my wrinkles. He turned to me and said; “Show me how it’s done, Dad.” I said; “Are you kidding, I never have been able to do that dive.” He stared at me with surprise. I chuckled to myself that I was able to teach my son to do something that I have never been able to do myself.
It is not the first time that has happened and I pray it will not be the last. There are some things that a young man can learn to do and goals a young man can achieve that eluded his father, if he can just stand on his father’s shoulders. There are many mistakes I have made that they don’t need to repeat. The same is true for daughters, of course.
I consider it consolation for falling short of some goals to be able to instruct and encourage my children to reach levels I never could reach. There are physical feats, social graces, athletic achievements, and spiritual accomplishments that they will enjoy that I only dreamed about. That is a large part of the reward of parenting. It a kind of consolation to enjoy while I am working on my cut-away.
P.S. on June 13 at about 8:30 p.m. I pulled off my first cut-away. It only took me 42 years.
