a short but true story

True story. 

Summers in Texas get so hot.  I grew up here so I am used to it.  In the summer it is not unusual to have 100 degree days that turn into weeks.  The summer heat does not usually break until about October.  As a kid, we enjoyed playing out side and during the hottest part of the day, we stayed inside.  Poor kids in town either went to the local pool or we wasted water in our own yards with back yard wading pools and water sprinklers.  There are different kinds of play pools.  Some are blow up plastic pools that you then fill with water.  Or you could buy the ones from the local dollar store that were blue ridged plastic and decorated with fish and ocean motif.  My mom would buy the blue plastic ones.  They were not too expensive and served us with hours of play time and cool break from the Texas summer heat.  One time my mom took three of us kids to buy the pool.  Of course, we wanted the largest one.  The problem came when we were trying to take it home.  It would not fit in the back of the station wagon.  And  you should never bend your pool for fear it might crack and break.  Afterall it was just plastic.  So we did what any mom and children would do.  Yes we put it on the top of the car.  My brother and sister would hold the sides of the pool with their arms out the windows.  And I was selected to sit inside the pool and weight it down.  Yes, on top of the roof of the car.  I’m sure we looked like a crazy bunch of nuts driving down the street and me ducking when cars past.  I remember being embarrassed and not wanting anyone to see me up there.  My mothers best advise was “ it will be ok, I will drive slow”.  But we got our pool and played with it all summer.  That is until by brother bent the side and it cracked.  The water was cool fun while it lasted.