"Washed by the Water"

It was time.

The rain and the pump had done their work well.

What was formerly empty was now filled.

The waters had risen.

The pool was ready.

It was time.

The waters were cold.

They needed heat.

They needed that sheet of blue bubble wrap to warm them.

It was time.

There was only one problem.

It was dirty.

I walked into it, having seen my family outside, volunteering to help.

A hose snaked through the grass.

I was asked to retrieve a brush.

I did.

They turned the hose on.

Water squirted out, beautiful and clean.

At least, clean in appearance.

The youngest two took it and began spraying the solar cover.

Shortly thereafter, they sprayed one another.

As water flew into the leaves of the trees above, they danced in the "rain".

One took the brush and made a halfhearted attempt at removing a few leaves before returning to run in the spray.

I have forgotten this over the years - the joy of getting wet by running through water as it flies in the air.

They quickly soaked themselves.

They did get a little work done, though.

I went inside to protect the camera from the watery blast.

When I returned (without the camera this time), I found him, the oldest of all, standing on the blue sheet.

He was washing it with the water.

He explained how he had found the youngest two neglecting their job and had "fired" them.

I helped him flip it over.

The water pooled near a corner, its weight preventing us from succeeding in our task.

I lifted up behind the pool and it spilled into the grass.

Then we flipped.

I did this side.

I did it by myself.

I took the hose and sprayed the dirt.

The pressure of the water moved the leaves.

I took the brush and began to step out onto that blue sheet, ready to remove leaves.

Then I felt something I did not expect.

My weight had created a canal, causing a pool of water to run over my shoes.

I tried to step again and experienced the same result.

That is how my wet shoes found themselves in the grass to the side, topped by wet socks.

I continued my adventure barefoot.

As I stepped, the water made pools around my feet.

As I tried to brush the leaves off, I stood in wet.

This wet had dirt and leaves from last fall mixed in with the formerly (almost) clean water.

Somehow, I didn't mind.

It felt good.

Good to be doing something, good to be standing in a puddle, good.

Somehow, this dirty felt clean.

I felt washed - in so many ways.

"Washed by the water."

"Washed by the Water", used as the title of this blog (as well as a common theme throughout) is a song preformed by NeedToBreathe.  I used the title of this song because I was thinking of it as I cleaned the solar cover.  Many thanks to this group for their inspiring music.