I didn't get a pool, but I did the next best thing. I bought a house that already had one. That wasn't my initial plan. My original goal was to get a house that already had as much garage space as possible, plus enough land that had a suitable enough terrain to easily build more garage space, if needed. But, a pool never factored into the picture. In fact, initially, I had it set in my mind that I specifically did NOT want a house with a pool.
But then, I started noticing that with the houses I was looking at, all other things being more or less equal, a pool didn't seem to affect the asking price much. And I also resigned myself to the fact that there was no way I was going to find exactly the garage I wanted. Then I used the convoluted logic that, if I found a house I liked that didn't have adequate garage space, I'd have no problems building a garage. But there's no way I'd splurge on a pool, if the house didn't already have one. So, I talked myself into a house with a nice, big 23x51 in ground pool, but storage for only one car, and that was little more than a carport. And then, splurged on a garage.
As for the pool, I hate to say it, but it does lose its magic after awhile. I don't regret it, not at all. It's just that initially it seemed so awesome, but once I got used to it, it was just "there". Hedonic creep, or whatever they call it. Sort of like the first time I bought a car that had power windows, it seemed downright luxurious. But then I got used to it.
I bought the house in September 2018, and I remember we were going in it as much as possible, trying to wring every last bit of summer we could out of it, although reasonably, by the beginning of October, it was getting too cold to go in, above my waist.
In 2019, my housemate and I were in it again, as much as possible, and it seemed like we were constantly having friends over. We never had any really HUGE blowouts, but definitely got our use out of it.
Then in 2020, COVID hit, and that put a bit of a damper on the get togethers. But, it also had me working from home. I think that might be when I really started taking it for granted. It was always there, 24/7, anytime I wanted it (at least until it got closed down for the winter). There would be days, sometimes, where I'd just feel too lazy to leave the house and walk over to it.
Seems like this year, there's been less pool time, again. Even today, it's actually pretty hot out, and the water is nice. I'm working from home and it's a slow day. But I just don't feel the need to run out there and jump in. But, next week it gets shut down for the season, and I know as soon as that happens, I'm going to start missing it. And, with my luck, we'll have a hot spell!
Still, even though it sounds like I'm a bit indifferent to it, I'd never want to give it up! Hell, now on second thought, I might just jump in for a bit!
