Swimming in Stock Tanks
In response to Jennifer’s prompt, The Best Year of Childhood
Being the child of one working parent while the other stayed home to mother us, the affordable option for a swimming pool was the sturdy stock tank. Our next-door-neighbors had one, so it seemed only natural that if we were to “keep up with the Joneses” we would have to procure one ourselves. Well, truth be known, we probably begged Dad until he got one, my brother Kevin and I.
I have blocked out a lot of my childhood I guess, or my memory just sucks, but I do remember summers in our back yards, swimming in the stock tank with or without my bestie from next door, Kaye. My brother didn’t catch on to it right away, he was fearful at first. That’s when Kaye’s older brother Kent came and gave him lessons until he was comfortable. We swam round in circles, trying to make a giant whirlpool, or played with beachballs and other swim toys I’ve since forgotten about. Mainly, it was just a place to cool off in the hot Texas sun.
Compared to a real swimming pool, above ground or built-in, it wasn’t much, and it was super cheap for the many years it was going to last. In fact, it is still in the backyard of my childhood home where my dad and oldest son still reside, however, it has been sunk into the ground. Dad had tried his hand at a backyard fish pond, complete with water lilies, but the fish kept dying. Now it serves as a holder for rocks and twigs, the pump sadly tossed to the side since it quit working and Dad didn’t have the energy or the will to fix it.
Besides the alley baseball games, endless hours swinging and singing on my swingset, and simply laying on a blanket staring up at the clouds, the stock tank filled our summer days with a wet retreat, something worthy in Texas. The neighbors eventually got rid of theirs and the new neighbors built a “real” swimming pool with six-foot fences to keep prying eyes from seeing. They have no idea of the joy we had simply shouting over the fence to each other, showing off our gymnastic abilities (or lack thereof), joining each other for games, or a swim in theirs or ours, and simply being carefree kids. Cows never had it so nice.
