(humorous, true story) "The Pool"

I have a friend. One could easily say one of my best friends.

When we choose to be true friends with someone, that friendship is generally unconditional.

We can overlook most of their faults, however often times not without some harassment!

This particular friend has OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and thankfully a sense of humor regarding it.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as defined by Wikipedia is a psychiatric anxiety disorder most commonly characterized by a subject's obsessive, distressing, intrusive thoughts and related compulsions (tasks or "rituals") which attempt to neutralize the obsessions.

One of my friends particular “compulsions” was and is his fear of germs. His side effect was hand washing and fear of public facilities i.e. restrooms, public showers and so on, I truly do feel for his ailment. It prevents him from enjoying many things, and so being a friend, I was out to assist him in overcoming some of his fear.

I regularly attend a community center here in Alaska, it offers everything that a recreation center should, a weight room, sauna, and my favorites a swimming pool and Jacuzzi, all this for few dollars. It is always a pleasant atmosphere. The Staff keeps a very clean locker room and is always checking the pool and Jacuzzi to assure the optimum amount of chlorine.

I explained all of this to my friend, who was slightly receptive of the idea of going, but in the end would always sadly decline. As much as he wanted to go, he just could not get past the debilitating effects of the OCD.

I worked on him day after day. I would tell him how pleasant it was to relax in the cool clean waters. How therapeutic the Jacuzzi was after a long hard day at work. How nice it was to meet up with friends and just talk and fellowship with one another. Finally, after nine months of wearing him down, he conceded! We were on our way!

We arrived at the center at 6:30pm just in time for “open swim”; we purchased our “tokens” and entered the locker room. As we removed our shoes he began to tremble, slightly at first, however by the time the clothes were shed and swimsuits adorned, he was pale, the shaking had increased to a steady eight on the “Richter Scale”. I reassured him, and he was so brave and determined to finally face his fear. I must at this point admit that as I followed him into the showers I was both amused and amazed at the extreme skill and delicacy he demonstrated as he walked on his heels the whole entire way, still shaking, and even more pale.

We made it through the showers and out to the pool, thankfully it was not that crowded, otherwise I would have had to explain that this was my “special friend” because at that point he was so distraut I thought we might even have to give up and leave.

We deposited our tokens into the cup and proceeded to the deep end. I went in first. As he turned to use the latter I could see his face, it was as looking into the eyes of one facing the gallows, he eased in. For the first 2 minutes we did not exchange any words, then to my surprise he turned to face me with the biggest grin, he had won! He and I both exhaled with great relief.

He began to explain how that he had not been to a public pool since he was very small, how that this was not as bad as he thought it might be and how he should have done this years ago. This conversation was taking place as he was treading water looking around and was followed up with a very inquisitive question, “hey Dan, what’s that rope for?” He was referring to the rope separating the children in the shallow end and the adults in the deep end. I quickly answered…………”peeing and non peeing!”