Manners, Schmanners

There is a long but fast moving line to get into the Wave Pool. I am not sure where they draw the line at over crowding. It doesn't seem very scientific. Or very effective.

But the time in line allows for some warm-up people watching. I am forever astounded at three things:

1- Some women's refusal to part company with a bathing suit style suited for someone half as old and half their Body Mass Index.  Call it a 'bathing unsuitable."

2 - That a man can wear a T-shirt bearing a picture or statement that is completely denigrating and insulting to women while out with his daughters and their mother. And no one scratches his eyes out when they see it.

3 - Parents are willing to ignore their children's horrific behavior in public.  If you ask me, this is exactly the time and place to start teaching manners and consideration (and demonstrating them yourself, as well, hello.)
Your having a frisbee toss with your kids and sailing the disc over the heads of countless others as they bob in the waves may be a laugh riot to you, but inspires thoughts of forcible drowning in others.

The kids and I make our way to the deep end to be jostled about in the waves to the tune of "Wipeout."  They are having a ball. I leave them to enjoy each other's company after 15 minutes. I trudge toward the shallow end to sit and soak up the sun and watch them splash around.

The people watching is amazing.

String bikinis on chubby women with tattoos that have become distorted with the extra pounds.  Is that a butterfly or a pterodactyl?

Men who can't part with the cigar even as they have to place it between their teeth to paddle in chest-deep water with both hands.

The complete failure to understand the difference between swimming diapers and regular diapers. And please, the Wave Pool is not the place for the diaper set unless you are secretly trying to reduce the number of mouths to feed by inviting a truly senseless tragedy. And please, let's not turn the pool into a science Petrie dish.

Jeggings - yep, those jeggings -  in the churning waters of the Wave Pool. They are not exactly designed to conceal a multitude of sins to begin with. They are even more unflattering soaking wet and clinging to every bulge and crevice on your person. And they aren't fooling anyone.

People who laugh and act like it is adorable and hilarious when their kid has obviously just annoyed the shit out of another patron of the park.  Jumping up and down to splash me as I sit sunning serenely in 4 inches of water, or spraying the face of the elderly man who is struggling against the "tide" are not only rude things to do,  and opportunities for you to teach your kid about courtesy, they are opportunities to learn about apologizing.  I realize I am at a water park and the reasonable expectation is that I will get wet. I also think it is not unreasonable to expect a little decency out of others.  How naive of me.

I am taking it all in when I notice that my kids have begun to rough house with one another.  Knowing that this is a sure sign of disaster,  I retrieve them from the water. I know when their patience for each other is waning. And I know when the party is over for me, too.

Besides, we have thrill rides to get to.