Reflections from the Big Apple
By Lauren Hanson
As I sit in my office here in New York looking down at my pale ghost-like skin, I take time to reflect and look back at the impact Northwest Branch had on my life. Two things have changed: I was a few shades darker and a little more care free.
My summers at Northwest Branch will always be some of the highlights of
my life. The very first day I joined the team I had instant friends -- friends that I still am close with today. I couldn't wait to be a lifeguard and all I wanted to do was spend every waking moment at the pool. Lucky for me, I pretty much did spend every waking moment at the pool. I even spent a significant amount of non-awake moments at the pool in the later years. Swim team, lifeguarding and hanging out were my main concerns in life. The Team Love posse was always on its game.
My partners in crime never failed me throughout those years either.
Between Nick, Jess, Paul, Jeff and Becca there was always something
going on. It was like guarding wasn't even a job---it was a time to
hang out with my friends, for ten hours a day. When it was cold and
thundering, we used to take the lawn chairs into the boys locker room
and lay on them under hot showers. Becca and I would come up with
inventive ways of cleaning the bathroom and one time Nick and Zach gave me a swirlie in one of the boys toilets---I think that event exists on
video somewhere.
I remember it being so hot some days in August, much like today, when I
would jump into the pool before getting into the chair and then watching
the water evaporate off my skin within minutes. I once almost blew up
the entire pool by making toxic gas in the pump room. I practiced lip
synch performances in the basement of the Gordon's house for years
running. I broke the diving board. I learned how to dive. I twirled
my whistle in the lifeguard chair. I lost about a dozen pairs of
sunglasses. I threw up from doing dizzy bat. I fished a dead rat out
of the junior pool. I saved a drowning kid in the shallow end. I ate
free food from parents who thought that "lifeguard appreciation" week
was an actual holiday. I learned the world "plethora". I fell down
the stairs before the paint had sand in it and got a really bad scrape.
I dressed up as Wonder Woman. I played LOTS of pranks. I learned how
to do crossword puzzles. I studied for my summer school classes----and
played hookie from them. I cleaned every type of bodily excrement from
the pool deck. I had about three different bike accidents. I got
yelled at by parents. I remember when there were no cell phones and
everyone paid a quarter to use the office phone. I climbed on the roof
to write in chalk. I got sunburned. I watched kids grow up. I stuffed
lots of fences. I lost my voice from cheering. I learned that there
were kids that went to private school. I taught a lot of kids to swim.
And I also made some of my best friends in the whole world.
There were so many people that made a difference and with whom I was
touched by over the years and have literally changed my life. There is
no way I could mention everyone one. You know who you are. My girl
crew---for everything and then some. To my boys---also for everything
but especially all the adventures. The families that supported me:
Stewarts, Wooters, Potvaks, Celottos. The kids I watched grow up and
"mature"---you know who you are. To Jared and Sam: for dealing with me. To all the parents who made me laugh and even those that got on my
nerves, you made me a stronger person. To all the kids on the swim
team----I miss coaching and I miss all of you!
For a few years running, I was at the pool so often that I would "joke"
with my mom about how "I never even wear underwear anymore, only a
swimsuit!" Not sure I would trade THAT aspect back in, but sitting and
relaxing in a lawn chair in the grass is much more of a memory and less
of a reality. So my advice to those youngsters out there----keep
having fun, cause a bit of trouble, and go to swim practice but don't
run on the pool deck. The days will go by sooner than you think. Team
Love will always be in my heart.
Addendum:
1. Can someone please take the bad pictures of me off this website?
I'd like to relive my NWB days through mental memories of the pool not
through documented themed swim meets. Especially the Wonder Woman one! How can I escape that? Come on people!
2. I briefly want to apologize to the pool board that reigned during my
years of guarding/being a teenager. I'm sorry for any grief us kids
caused. I'm sorry if we broke anything or made you stay up late
worrying. I’m sorry you had to yell at us. I apologize as an adult
on behalf of my teenage reckless self though I'm not sure I regret
anything. :)
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Hey, how could anyone not accept an apology from this terriific young lady? Now, about those “bad pictures” and especially the Wonder Woman photo, we’ll have to give that some consideration.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Lauren Hanson & Friends...
Lip-Syncing at NWB in 2001
