Once upon a time, we were broke. And I spent some of our last money on goggles. Three pairs, to be exact. I had four kids in swimming, and they all needed goggles except for the boy.

They were nice goggles, which lasted longer than they would have, since we quit swimming a few months later.

One by one, they started breaking or disappearing. First, my younger daughter broke her fancy goggle strap. Then she lost her goggles.

I started swimming after my kids quit the swim team. I had my own goggles, which I constantly adjusted while I swam. This came in handy while I was building up my stamina. I’d swim a 25 and stand at the deep end and defog or adjust my goggles.

After a few months of that, I started using my daughter’s goggles. They were cool, Nike goggles with fancy straps that didn’t constantly come loose. I wore them for years.

And then they mysteriously disappeared. Goggles are light-weight and easy to drop undetected. I hope whoever found them is getting some good use out of them. They were metallic shades. ..

My younger daughter wore my goggles at a friend’s above ground pool last week. They have disappeared.

Then my middle daughter’s goggles lost their integrity. The plastic by the nose is holding by a thread. She doesn’t wear them if she isn’t desperate.

So, yesterday, before the swim test, I broke down and bought my oldest daughter a pair of goggles. And. .. myself. I mean, I can’t start swimming again without goggles.

During the swim test, the little children were swimming. They tried for a while without goggles, but then my middle daughter came and used her big sister’s goggles, and the younger daughter actually took the baby goggles out of her baby sister’s hands. I saw how much they will actually try to swim if they are wearing goggles, so I broke down today and bought them both a new pair of goggles.

I was lamenting having lost so many pairs of goggles with my older son. He had no sympathy. “Goggles are like socks, Mom,” he told me.