I Gotta Leak

I gotta leak.

The family plans a generic celebration this evening to observe several birthdays, a job promotion, and a friend’s upcoming wedding.

The kids decided to hold this shindig at our house with an everybody-bring-something cookout and pool party.

Problem is I gotta leak. Perhaps it was caused by a falling branch during last week’s storms, or maybe there’s a loose hose, or it could be a failed gasket – whatever, our pool looses water faster than the garden hose can fill it

First, I dawned facemask and descended to the bottom with the patching kit. Since I am so buoyant (read fat) I can’t stay on bottom long, so when I dive, Ginny places her foot in the small of my back and steps on me to hold me down underwater.

We’ve done this sort of thing before. Last winter when the water was too cold for her, she stayed outside the pool and held me on bottom with a long broom. Hey, it worked.

But today even after patching every hole we discovered, the pool still leaks.

So I checked hoses. All ok.

We bought some sealer and tackled the gaskets. We both ended up covered with black sticky glop.

And the water still gurgles down -- somewhere, and we can’t find the leak. We just see the level going slowly, persistently down drained away into the sand.

How symbolic.

Yeap, we’re celebrating last week’s birthdays -- one of ‘em’s mine. Another year down the drain. Where did it go? What did I accomplish? Did it count for a damn thing?

Life seeps away drip by drip by drip.

Good thing I’m such a giddy optimist, or this thought track could really get depressing….

The drip by drip phrase reminds me that I once wrote a piece about how I stole the leg from somebody’s dining room table. Here’s a link to Jesse James And Me, you’ll find that happier reading.

While you enjoy reading that, I’m headed to a pool-less pool party.