I love pools. One might even say that I am a bit of a Pool Slut. Now, before you judge me, let me clarify with a definition of the word slut: a person with a seemingly insatiable but often undiscerning desire to do, or have something specified.

Having the chance to get into a pool and exercise is awesome and I am always on the lookout for the opportunity. In fact, my swim suit, towel and hat are 99% of the time in my car.

Two summers in a row I was able to swim in my friend’s pool everyday in exchange for taking in the mail and making sure all was good inside the house. While swimming one afternoon, I noticed a LARGE alligator in the canal. OMG it was a big one just cruising along in the water. The things you see when you have the opportunity to just relax and watch the scenery.

Recently, a friend and her family went out of town and she let me use her pool. The only request was to not wear my shoes in the house and to make sure to re-latch the child gate when finished. Awesome!

I took the first opportunity to try out the pool on a Monday. Funny, there were a number of cars in the driveway and the garage door was open. A woman was in the garage calling out a man’s name. I asked if there was something I could help her with.

“Oh, No thank you. I’m Mark’s wife and brought him lunch but I can’t find him.”

Mark, I remembered, was the plumber’s name who was going to do some work in the house while they are out of town. As she called his name for the third time, the door to the house opened and Mark stepped out. He greeted his wife and gave me an odd look.

I said hi to him (as I have met him before) and proceeded to take off my shoes and go into the house. I used the guest bath off the laundry to change clothes and then headed out to the pool. My tunes were playing from my phone, I did my kind of workout for an hour. The pool was lovely and the temperature perfect. It was a marvelous break in my day.

When Mark came out by the pool where he was working on his project he said hi to me. We spoke for a bit while I did my thing and he did his. At that point he had been up in the attic 5 times and had at least one more trip to go. He was really hot and sweaty. I did not want to change places with him!

I found out later that Mark had texted the homeowner. “There is a strange woman in your pool. She just walked in, said hello to me, changed her clothes and made herself at home in your pool.” My friend responded with: “That’s Fran, you’ve met her before!” No wonder he was so friendly later.

I swam another time at my friend’s house while they were out of town but then the weather didn’t cooperate. Those pesky thunderstorms. I had to resort to using the pool at the gym. It’s a bit more complicated there, but I persevered and got my exercise in that week.

Thank goodness for my friends with pools and opportunities and invitations to their homes.

If you have a pool and want some company . . . I’m available

Have suit, will swim is my motto. See you in the pool!!!

Frances Graziano Copyright 2018 All Rights Reserved