Swimming Hole

It’s summer, so we must be seeking the water. We’ve been out to Riven Rock to meet up with friends once already–we had arranged to connect with Kirsten, Irene, and Sallie, but happened to encounter Kaya and Margot, too.

The kids had a great time climbing up through the cleft and perching on top of the rock. Another group of kids made a fire, and Sallie watched with fascinated eyes.

They complained, however, that it was too crowded. At least three summer camps had brought kids there, and the chaos was more than my homeschooled kids are used to.

A few days later, we discovered that the river close to our house has a new swimming hole. We started hitting it every day and inviting friends at every opportunity. Silas’ swimming and confidence in the water has massively improved with daily practice that is easy for his lazy mother to take him to.

Sometimes I swim, and sometimes I work while the kids splash around. Both are perfect.

We’ve seen some wildlife–dragonflies, at least one great blue heron, several frogs.

Lillian said, “There aren’t good enough words to describe how beautiful this is!” She’s right. In the deepest spots (I think at least eight feet), it’s deep turquoise. The water sparkles on it, and the shade shelters it. We’ve seen minnows and trout flashing in the depths. There’s a log that’s more or less safe for jumping off of (just avoid the root ball).

A few days later, we had Elisabeth, James, Esau, and Jude over for swimming, and then their cousins, Esther, Ruth, and Thomas.

And then Heidi, David, and Corin, and then Noah. When we were down there with the Winters Vogel family, JC said that he thinks this swimming hole might be permanent. “The flooding last year eroded some of it clear to the bedrock. I don’t think this is going to dry up.”

I told Heidi, “I think he’s right, but I kind of wish he hadn’t told me that. We’ve been down here every day because I thought it was ephemeral.”

She nodded at her tall son, striding off to drive his own car and meet up with his friends to go hiking without any grown-ups. Corin’s headed for college this fall, after a gap year spent living, parent free, with his younger sister. “Childhood is ephemeral,” she said.

True. Who wants to go swimming?