It is immediately apparent in Houston when the summertime has arrived: the cool and crisp feel of spring is replaced with damp, humid heat. It is as if someone has laid a giant soggy towel right over the entire area.

Suddenly, staying inside with the air conditioner high seems preferable. It is hard to imagine friends saying “It’s so cold!” a month ago. The only thing being thought about: when will the suffering end?

It is in times like these when swimming outdoors can be properly enjoyed, I thought to myself. Swimming practice had a change of location, and instead of our indoor pool, we were swimming (just for today) in an outdoor pool.

Normally, an indoor pool is most preferable: the temperature inside is a welcoming ten degrees higher outside, so when I get out of the pool, it is not nearly as cold as if the swimming pool were outside.

These days, however, outdoor pools were probably a smarter choice: warmer areas became a con instead of a pro. And today, the outdoor pool would make it easier to cope with the heat.

The swimming pool was looking better than ever when I arrived. The tall brick structure of the entrance invited me in. I stepped into the area, and found myself looking at eight 50-meter lanes. Each lane was twice as long as our normal ones. Perfect, I thought, and dived in.

That was when my world froze over.

I sputtered and flung myself out of the pool. WHAT WAS GOING ON? I thought to myself. One moment I was eagerly waiting to be able to get into a nice comfy pool, and the next thing I knew, my body had gone so cold it was like the apocalypse happened.

Someone jumped in, screamed a girlish scream, and then hopped right on out. I wasn’t the only one.

Across all the lanes, people were complaining.

“What’s going on?”

“Haven’t they heard of something called heating?”

“Brain freeze!”

My coach came over, shoved each of us back into the water, and threatened us with parent phone calls. Halfway across the pool, I almost fainted. Coach didn’t believe me.

Her eye twitched. “There’s two options,” she yelled at me from the side of the pool, “you either don’t swim, or you swim. You have two seconds to make that decision.”

I chose the latter.