Week #253 – Summer Fun List: Hit the Water! (Dedicated to our childhood friend and neighbor, Dean Morris)

Greetings Happyness Tribe!

This post comes of the heels of hearing about another loss from the old neighborhood. Dean may have grown up, moved out, and moved on to his very own family and business — but in my mind he was always the fun-loving kid next door who was ready to play the next game, come up with the next plan, or figure out the next adventure. Memories of him are always accompanied by the smell and taste of chlorine from his family’s pool — a place where all the neighborhood kids gathered to cool down, act up, and chill out during the hotter-than-hell summers of our youth.

News of his passing came to me last week when I was home in Ocean Grove — and after thinking about his wife, children, and family — I immediately thought of the pool. How I learned to swim, dive, and even open my eyes under water…right there in that big pool on the old block.

It reminded me of my post from way back on Week #45, when I mentioned that very same pool and challenged us to “Get Wet!” So here it is again…because Dean (and my brother, and another neighbor-boy named Brian) may be gone…but those memories, oh those summer fun memories, they last FOREVER!

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: GET WET!!!  I know many of you are living in areas with record temps right now — and with that comes the tendency to limit physical activity.  Sometimes the heat just makes it plain hard to move.  But don’t despair!  Head to your favorite lake, pool, or watering hole and jump in!  When we were kids — we spent HOURS in our neighbor’s pool playing Marco Polo, Aquaman, and other pool games.  As teens — we headed to the community pool to practice our can-openers, watermelons, and cannon-balls off the high dive!  Now — as working adults — we each still head to the water after a long hot day of work or commuting.  There is nothing like the attitude adjustment that comes after a long, cold soak in the pool (or lake or ocean) — not to mention the sleep that comes afterward!

So beat the heat…and GET WET this week!

Spread Happyness — and share your favorite water activities in the comments!

7/19/19 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com