I Got it from the Lost and Found: One man's trash is another man's .......nevermind. As the summer starts winding down, the swim camp buses leave, and the parking lot empties considerably, there is a slowing of life at an indoor pool. Guards become more concerned about how to stay awake rather than how to manage the chaos of summer, as non-swimmers are replaced with lap swimmers and the rhythm of fall sets in once more.
Two weeks ago, one of my supervisors had a bag in her office filled with the pool’s lost and found. This is where guards get the privilege to do some back to school shopping for no cost at all. In fact, it’s where I got a really nice jacket. By the way, the year I turned 12, I managed to lose three jackets in one year, making my “lost and found” score thus far: -3 +1, for a net loss of two. I still have that jacket and wear it, even with the stain on the front……. Well, maybe it wasn’t so much lost, as it was, just left.
Like many of my cartoons, “I Got It from the Lost and Found” is based on a true story. I was, at that time, a pie-faced 8 year old kid on a summer league swim team. The lifeguards at that outdoor pool would take the abandoned towels and hang them over the fence, so patrons could come back and claim them. After practice one evening, I witnessed one of our parent volunteers grab a towel off the fence to dry her face. When she was halfway done, she got a whiff of a strange scent just as her son yelled, “Mom! Don’t! Some kid peed on that towel!” She jumped and put it right back on that rusted fence faster than you could swim away from a shark.
Being a forgetful person who leaves a lot of good things behind, the lost and found hamper is always of interest to me. I am sometimes reunited with my own stuff too. My best advice is to wash anything you find there thoroughly before wearing it. And I do not recommend drying off with a strange towel, unless you are really, really desperate.
Be sure to tune in next week. I have a question for you in my blog, and I can’t wait to see your answers.
Two weeks ago, one of my supervisors had a bag in her office filled with the pool’s lost and found. This is where guards get the privilege to do some back to school shopping for no cost at all. In fact, it’s where I got a really nice jacket. By the way, the year I turned 12, I managed to lose three jackets in one year, making my “lost and found” score thus far: -3 +1, for a net loss of two. I still have that jacket and wear it, even with the stain on the front……. Well, maybe it wasn’t so much lost, as it was, just left.
Like many of my cartoons, “I Got It from the Lost and Found” is based on a true story. I was, at that time, a pie-faced 8 year old kid on a summer league swim team. The lifeguards at that outdoor pool would take the abandoned towels and hang them over the fence, so patrons could come back and claim them. After practice one evening, I witnessed one of our parent volunteers grab a towel off the fence to dry her face. When she was halfway done, she got a whiff of a strange scent just as her son yelled, “Mom! Don’t! Some kid peed on that towel!” She jumped and put it right back on that rusted fence faster than you could swim away from a shark.
Being a forgetful person who leaves a lot of good things behind, the lost and found hamper is always of interest to me. I am sometimes reunited with my own stuff too. My best advice is to wash anything you find there thoroughly before wearing it. And I do not recommend drying off with a strange towel, unless you are really, really desperate.
Be sure to tune in next week. I have a question for you in my blog, and I can’t wait to see your answers.
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