Swimming Hole

I went to see my mom at the nursing home this afternoon and on the way home I pulled in at the public boat launch at the forks of the Sipsey and Mulberry Rivers.
I've actually stopped by there almost every day for the past week. It's like a community recreation area.
The first day I stopped, I saw a guy I hadn't seen in 30 years. I actually thought he was dead. We chatted for a while and he told me a few stories about my grandfather who actually did die in 1970. I smiled as he told me the stories because they rang true. I could picture my grandfather in his overalls with faded tattoos on both forearms.
We talked for a long while. There were several other people fishing from the bank for catfish or maybe a stripped bass. Over to the side near the landing were a bunch of kids swimming in the river.  The place had a good vibration.
Today when I stopped by, the young boys I met the first day, had been there all day today. They fished until it got too hot, and then then they went swimming.
All of them were as brown as hickory nuts. One kid told me they came to the forks every day. When I asked them when school starts, the mood darkened a bit and I immediately regretted asking the question. "Classes start back August 15," one of them said. When I asked if they were excited to go back, none of them were.
Once in the truck and headed toward home, I thought about when I was their age. I too spent most of the summer on the river and I dreaded hearing the sound of school bells.
I do know this, there is nothing better than having a great swimming hole close by. I know the forks of the Sipsey and Mulberry River will live on in their memories for a very long time.