In my last post, My image of The Edge, I described how my fears of the unknown as well as my fear of the cold, had a relation to swimming pools. I painted a picture of me as a little boy, spending all his time ‘living on the edge’ of the swimming pool. And the more I thought about it, the more I had the sense that all these 12 pools were whispering something to me.
The other day, while sitting at the pool, I realised that I really didn’t like the fact that, every time I had the opportunity to swim, I went through a mind-game of whether or not I would go in. If I decided to go in, I still had to go through the steps of first dipping my big toe in the water to test the temperature, then both feet, and if that was still manageable, slowly wade into the water up to my waist. Last night, I made a deal with my inner child. I, the adult Krister, would walk to each of the twelve swimming pools and without hesitation, walk or jump into the water, swim a few laps and (maybe most importantly) soak up the experience. (Pun intended) A bit of sunbathing would be permitted and of course the necessary documentation of each pool.
I walked out the apartment door at 11:00 and made my way to the top of the hill where the largest pool is. Technically, it is pool number 12, since there are two number 2 pools(This is Egypt after all). This pool was empty and being upgraded, so I picked around in the piles of debris until I found an appropriate little stone. This stone would be the ‘thread’ connecting all the pools together. I would carry it with me from pool to pool, dipping it in each pool and ultimately throwing it as far as I could into the Red Sea.
From this pool, I started my path towards the sea, following a pattern which brought me past each of the 12 pools. At each pool, I would remove my shirt, drop my towel and walk straight into the water without flinching, swim a lap or two and then exit the pool and dry off. After 5 minutes of lying in the sun (as a little reward) I would pull on my shirt and continue on to the next pool. This process lasted a few hours. I was in no hurry, taking my time to enjoy the walk from pool to pool.
After reaching the last pool, I made my way to the beach and repeated the same process. This time, I pulled out the little stone which had been in my pocket the whole time, gave it a little blessing and threw it as far as I could into the sea. After a nice long lay in the sun, I picked up my things and returned to my apartment, feeling a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. And my inner child thanked me.
