Letters to the Editor
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We Have A Pool, Too...
...and my husband is expansive with people. He's from a family that enjoyed togetherness much more than mine did; he used to love to stay in hostels when he traveled; he always regretted not having lived in dorms when he went to college.
I, on the other hand, need solitude on a regular basis--and I need it as much as I need my husband's sunny, expansive character in my life.
We understand each other, which is good.
When we first moved to the House With A Pool, our friends came to swim frequently, and except for One Person, no one took advantage. All was groovy, just like the Si & Gar song. That is, until my husband and I ended up having a rather bitter quarrel about that One Person, whom we finally discovered in the pool with children from her family and their friends one Sunday when we came home from church. Said pal (I should say former pal) was sipping white wine, and hence was happy and a little tipsy and the kids were diving and screaming and all I could think of was the lawsuit we'd have if anyone were injured.
You really, really need to take a look at just how ruinous such lawsuits can be. I did. They can cost you your house and pool, and just because someone is a dear friend or a family member does NOT mean that they won't sue you.
So my husband and I had a fight, and we almost never have fights. And we lost a friend, and we had to lock up the pool, which legally we have to do where we live anyway. It sucked. Sometimes you have to get people angry with you, though, and that's all there is to it. Things did really work out for the best, though.
It turns out that the Former Pal took such offense at not being able to swim whenever she wanted to that she said some pretty awful things about me to my husband. My husband, a loving and loyal soul, saw the Former Pal for what she was, and realized his liability in the situation. Anyone who would turn on him that way would CERTAINLY sue if she were injured in our pool. He apologized to me. And life goes on, lawsuit-free.
Anyone who cannot accept house rules around the use of a swimming pool doesn't deserve to use the swimming pool. And sometimes, a good old-fashioned argument clears the air. I suggest clearing the air--and the pool.