Sometimes when I need to get out of the house to write, I go to the neighborhood swimming pool. It has concrete tables here and there where I can feel a part of life but still be able to concentrate. I came today to try and feed my creative juices.
I chose a table right next to the little kiddie pool. No one was in it, and most of the time children who do use it quickly get bored and move on to the larger one. I was working away when I heard a little splash next to me.
A little girl of about three or four years old had jumped into the pool. She went right into the middle of it, crouched way down to her chin, looked at me intently but not really seeing me, and said, "I gotta peepee."
She proceeded to remain perfectly still for a few moments. Then, she hopped back up and happily skipped back to where the rest of her family were waiting for the hotdogs to finish on the grill. (There are built-in grills at this pool.)
I sat there a while looking to see if there was any sign of yellow in the water. This is a salt water pool. It doesn't have the same chemicals as a chlorine pool where you can easily see when someone has alleviated themselves. I continued to fixate on the idea of the urine mixing through the water that other children also swim in - and sometimes swallow.
I may have started to turn a little green. The thought of my grandkids swimming in that. They aren't here today, but they have been in the past. I'm sure this isn't a rare occurrence.
I had to turn my head and get my mind back on the task in front of me. But I couldn't do it. The thought of this child, whose parents were not watching her at the time, kept ruminating in my head, round and round. (Not judging her parents. No parent can watch their children 100% of the time. I'm sure my kids did plenty of crap like that. Excuse the crap pun, please.)
It finally occurred to me: Sarah, you keep thinking about something you have zero control over. They do put in additives into the water for exactly these reasons. The maintenance workers have a pretty good idea what gets into this water, and you have seen them take care of it yourself on Mondays. They are always here every Monday checking things over, testing, treating, etcetera. Stop ruminating!
Rumination: It's not a good thing. In the words of Elsa, "Let it go!"
And besides, maybe, sometimes, people just need to relieve themselves.
Have you ever had something like that get into your head and you had difficulty spitting it back out?
Shoot me an email at humorinchaos@gmail.com.
Thanks for reading!
Sarah
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