Skinny Dippin' Therapy

Hadn't done it for almost a decade, and not in mixed company for even longer.

Of course, there was minimal coverage involved (I left my skivvies on and borrowed an oversized t-shirt). And it was hardly something I had planned to do last night. But I'm telling you, it felt so damn good to be spontaneous after my crazy-ass week that it was an easy decision to make.

I couldn't remember the last time that I had just "dove in" and relaxed. We talked about the goofy pool tricks we'd mastered growing up: front and back somersaults, handstands, cannonballs and outrageous dives. Then we proceeded to see which we could still execute (few, sadly, due to only waist-high water). Of course we had to see who could cross the pool while swimming underwater, and then make all the pre-requisite jokes about "finding" the aeration jet, and special chemicals in the water that would change color if someone tried to pee in the pool. Each of us dunked or got dunked at least once, and reminisced about favorite swimming stories, from baudy to benign. Then we floated in slow circles, frog-kicking lazily with no destination in mind.

In a heartbeat we were carried away on private reveries... remembering special firsts... Learning to swim, poolside flirtations, pool sex, skinny dipping adventures from skinnier days. It was a two-hour prescription for stargazing, to be taken internally (with food)-- may cause dizziness.

In rapid fire succession I was:
3 - learning to swim
7 - learning to dive
12 - hanging at the city pool, eating snacks, gawking at BOYS & doing anything BUT swim
15 - dunking / being dunked by BOYS
19 - recalling the boneless feeling of lying naked on a waterbed, doing a "dead man's" float

It's startling to realize that all those "girls" are still bobbing around companionably in my subconscious, and that the whiff of chlorine and some vinyl float rings were enough to bring them crowding around me like old friends.

It had been a lifetime since I'd felt my fingers and toes turn into prunes, since I'd let myself float until my teeth chattered and my skin was covered in goose bumps. Stars dotted the hazy sky, and the last few fireflies of summer floated over the pool, searching for one last chance at paradise.
I think they had the right idea.