One of my favorite childhood stories is about seeing my grandmother jump into a swimming pool with all her clothes on. It was my 7th or 8th birthday, and all the kids in the pool were too busy playing games to notice that my baby brother (he must have been 2 or 3) had slipped from his swim ring and into the bottom of the pool. All of a sudden I saw my grandmother, in all her 60+ matronly glory, complete with heels and spanish fan, jump in and splash her way to my brother.
Now my kids will have a similar story to tell their children about me -- except my story isn't quite as noble.
Yesterday 3Po and Jammy's soccer team had a pool party, which means the kids played in the pool while the grownups sat and watched them. That is, until I decided to take a photo of 3Po, Jammy and their soccer coach. One of the boys' face was shadowed, so I was simultaneously yelling at him to move to the left while edging to the left at the same time. I was so concentrated on framing the shot nicely that I didn't notice how close I was to the edge of the pool.... until my left foot stepped into thin air and I fell into the pool.
I still can't believe I FELL INTO THE POOL.
I really wish someone had been taking a video or even a photo, as I fell in, because that must have been a hilarious sight. I still feel like giggling whenever I think about it.
What's even funnier is the fact that all the grownups -- including yours truly -- had only one thing on their mind as I fell in: SAVE THE PHONE!! Hey, people dry easily but phones don't!
Our host graciously saved me from sporting the wet t-shirt look for the rest of the afternoon by lending me some clothes while tossing mine in her clothes dryer, but the phone I used to take the photo has not fared so well. After drying it overnight in a bag of rice (to absorb the excess water), everything works except the internal speaker. It seems to think that headphones are perpetually plugged in, so you can hear music, phone calls, video soundtracks etc.. as long as headphones are plugged in, but once you take away the headphones you can't hear anything.
Unfortunately, the phone wasn't even mine -- it was Alfie's. I borrowed his phone to take the photo because my phone battery had just died. So any excitement he felt at seeing me in a wet t-shirt was dimmed by the fact that I broke his phone. Oh well, he qualifies for a new phone with his provider anyway, so at least we got three things out of my fall: a livelier party (3 more grownups ended up in the pool, though by choice not by accident!), a new phone, and a funny story.
Update: the phone works now! Make sure you save that bag-of-rice tip for when your phone falls into the toilet (that hasn't happened to me yet but with my luck...).
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