Letters to the Editor
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@Lauren F.
"Why is there such a consensus that the LW ought to take control and draw a line around what she owns even at the expense of family relations?"
Because it's partly her pool, not the extended family's pool.
"I do not see any real harm or loss of happiness to the LW based on her letter. She doesn't report that they're creating huge messes or terrible noise."
No, but she has lost privacy. The cousins show up at all sorts of times unannounced. Yes that's rude, but the cousins
don't get it.
"What she is really upset about is the fact that at some point in the future she may want to use the pool all alone and God forbid, someone else might be in there."
And there's *NOTHING* wrong with that. Having a pool and sharing it does not mean it's open all the time.
"This is about a perception - or fear - of scarcity. She is an affluent woman with a 'luxurious' pool, yet she is terrified that by letting others use it she will somehow lose out."
I don't see that at all. What I see is that she doesn't want the cousins around all the time using the pool. Some of the time is OK.
The pool is on private property. LW and spouse are responsible for it, legally, financially, environmentally, etc. It's *their* pool. That means LW doesn't have to share it all the time.
What LW has now is a responsibility for the pool without the authority to limit its use. That's just wrong.