Another strong memory of the summer of 1988 revolves not around working at the swimming pool itself, but the commute to get there. Morning after morning, we'd get to the same stretch of road near Miami International Airport and get caught up in the gridlock. Traffic in Miami is particularly infuriating, but I think that at the time I minded it less. Mostly because it gave me more time to hear my favorite cassette of that summer: Martika.
Martika had been on the television show "Kids, Inc." (at the same time as the unbearable Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson) and went on to find a brief bit of fame with her self-titled debut. My favorite song was the catchy and addictive single, "More than you know" and I'm sure playing it over and over again (having to rewind to the beginning every time) drove my mom insane. Now she'd probably be better known for the ballad "Toy soldiers," which ended up being used in an Eminem track.
Playing any track from Martika will make me think of that morning traffic on my way to work, or of the ride home, my towel over the car seat still in my bathing suit and smelling of chlorine.
alternate track: Chaka Khan's song "Through the fire" was always on the radio in the mornings that summer and I loved it!
Despite the fact that The Police album Synchronicity came out in 1983, I remember the song "Every breath you take" still being pretty popular during one of the summers I worked at the Miami Springs Pool. I think I was there some time during the summers of 1985-86 and then again during the summer of 1988 or 89. I recall sitting up at the front window, looking out onto the street as someone's Police cassette played in the radio. Miami Springs is a small city in the northern part of Miami-Dade County. My mom worked nearby and my dad, who used to work a lot with the different parks and recreation departments in the county, had gotten me involved in volunteering over the summer as a teacher's aide for swimming lessons. The last summer I would actually get paid by working as a cashier on top of that. Every day I'd wake up and go with my mom who worked sort of nearby. I'd usually get there at 7:30, I think, and typically the first thing I'd do is put my stuff in my cubbyhole (I was already an insane reader back then and inevitably had a book, usually a Choose Your Own Adventure title) and run and dive into the cool blue water. Beginning at 8:00 in the morning we taught three swimming classes, each with a different section from Beginners to Advanced, and I worked with all the different levels. My favorite lesson to help out with was with the Advanced Swimmers and involved bringing in extra clothes to wear while jumping off the high board and then learning to use your clothes as makeshift floating devices. The third class of the day, however, was the absolute worst. The 10:00 session was when the kids from The Recreation Center across the pool would come in for their lessons. These kids were obnoxious and the pool was crowded with hooligans. After the lesson was over, they got to stay for 45 minutes or so of "free swim!" At 11:30 they went back to the Rec Center and the pool was closed until 1, when we opened for regular business. Some days I would walk down Westward Drive (or riding with my friend Amy in her red VW Bug that I coveted!) to this place called Artie's Subs. I'd order a steak sub with nothing on it. It was absolutely amazing and the last time I tried to go there for a nostalgic sandwich, it was gone.
[omg the high dive is gone?!?]
Most of the time, I would take advantage of the extra 90 minutes of having an Olympic sized swimming pool to myself! No line for the high dive! It was pretty much what I imagine heaven will be like. While out there on my own, I'd play the radio that we employees had plugged in at the window, facing out onto the pool.
However, the alternate track for this memory could have been... "Pumpin' and blowin'" from a little movie I like to call The Pirate Movie.
Once in a while, a few of us would go catch a movie after swimming lessons & if no one had to work when the pool re-opened at 1. Literally the only movie I remember seeing (and wanting to see again) was The Pirate Movie. Which was an 80s musical inspired by The Pirates of Penzance. With Christopher Atkins and Kristy McNichol. And yes, I had the soundtrack.
A few years ago, I decided that I would make an autobiographical mixtape of songs. I love music more than just about anything in the world (except for maybe movies), so many of my memories are connected to songs. Now in the age of itunes, I've turned these songs into the mother of all playlists and thought it might be fun to blog about the songs and the memories that go along with them.
