You were r....r....ri.....righ............RIGHT

I'm about to do something that I've never done before.  Something big.  HUGE, as a matter of fact!

Something that has caused me many sleepless nights and much hand wringing and more than a little bit of gastro-intestinal discomfort.

Something that will shake the very foundation of my marriage and my family....

I'm going to admit.....

.........

...that I was.....................wrong.

YES.  I said it.  But WAIT.  There's more!  If you call within the next 10 minutes, you'll ALSO get to hear me admit this:

The Husband was right.

GAH!  I'm choking!  CPR?!  ANYONE?!  Can I at LEAST get a brown paper bag to breathe into?!  Maybe just rub my back in a comforting manner?

Nothing?

YOU are no help at ALL.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Since way back when water was invented, The Husband has wanted a pool.  "Wouldn't that be nice?"  He broached the subject at different times......when our friends bought a house with a pool in the yard.  When the thermometer rose past the 90 degree mark and we became prisoners of the air conditioner.  When we had kids.  When we started looking at buying a home of our own and one of the houses we toured had a pool.

I had three major reasons for not wanting to take that leap.  #1 - Safety.  #2 - Maintenance.  #3 - Cost.

Fast forward to the spring of 2007.  I looked down at the giant belly that was cooking our fourth child and I looked at the tax forms that said, "Hey!  Uncle Sam owes you more than you expected!"

My speech went something like this:  "Fine.  You win.  We have the money now so let's put in a pool.  With 4 kids under the age of 8, I won't be going anywhere for quite sometime, so we might as well bring the fun here.  BUT.  Just so you know.  I will have nothing to do with the upkeep.  If you leave the maintenance to me, we will be swimming in something resembling green jell-o.  I have too much other sh** to do without worrying about the chlorine levels in a giant bathtub."

We were at the pool store in under an hour....before I could change my mind.  True to form, The Husband picked out the biggest pool he could find.  And true to form, I asked WHY do we need a pool THAT big.  His answer?  "Because we CAN.  Have you SEEN the size of our yard?!  We could have TWO of these!"

The fact that we went with an above-ground pool with a removable ladder made me feel slightly better about the safety aspect.  Turn on the news during this time of year and you're almost guaranteed to hear a story about a kid falling into a pool.  Never say never, of course....but it takes a bit more effort, in my humble opinion, to drown in an above-ground pool.  But again....never say never.  As of now, the boys are both tall enough to be in the pool without life jackets.  The girls are firmly strapped into their vests at. all. times.

So, yes, I admit that I love love love our pool.  I admit that he was right and I was wrong.  I admit that it's amazing awesome cool incredible to see how my kids have become, without the benefit of ANY swim lessons, such masters of the water.  I admit that sometimes I allow the pool to be an adequate substitute for a shower for the kids.  (Okay...more than sometimes.  Quite a bit, actually.)  I admit that there's nothing better than lowering my overheated body into that cool water.  I admit that we would be lost without it.

But I still refuse to take part in the maintenance.

Cuz that's how I roll.