The air has been thick and heavy and difficult to breathe far too often in the first chapter of summer. Our poor air conditioner purrs along as background music, and it's been so uncomfortable that many nights, it's too sticky for open windows.
This means shorter woodland walks, all of which stick close to rivers. As my lungs labor and Samwise's tongue hangs from his mouth, Emily knows what is nearby and bounds like a happy rabbit the nearer we get to one of her swimming spots.
All three of us seek the respite of the cool mountain waters. How I love watching as Emily tugboats in drunken circles. This is her bliss, her joy, her summer everything. She is currently in her eighth year—Damnit! Why do the years pass so quickly?—but she is a puppy when swimming.
She lives for water, and I often think of the aging character played by Albert Finney in the movie Big Fish. Close to death in old age, even then, he longed to submerge his entire being in water—it was part of his soul. This will always…
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