New Year’s Resolution

Making friends with the Cold… That’s my resolution this year. And I was walking through the gate of Barton Springs Pool at 5 this morning, ready to go.

For those unfamiliar with Austin, Barton Springs is a spring-fed pool that is 68 degrees year-round and has served as a legendary gathering place for centuries. My main characters, Eva and Jim, even visit Barton Springs, though, of course, it goes by another unknown (at least to this author) Comanche name.

I had always heard that the water felt warm during the winter. I had only ever swum there during the hottest days of summer when I could jump in and jump right back out to thaw on a blanket.

But 5 o’clock in the morning is an entirely different world, and I had the pool to myself. With the darkness, the mist rising from the surface, and the downtown skyline on the horizon, the water transported me to a magical world. A sacred place. One where I expanded and lost sense of where I ended and the liquid night began.