It was a tough week.  The frequent  ups and downs in Vernon’s recovery and the effort and time trying to build him up to better levels of comfort and clarity has been exhausting, to be honest.  I’ve allowed some unnecessary dramas to get under my skin as well. I don’t know if its temporary burnout or if I should simply blame the heat. I expect its both.

But the wild heat, as energy-sucking as it can be, has given driven us to use the pool in the evenings.  It’s actually the community pool, where my friend Sandy lives. This is not just any community pool though: it is filled with warm salt water, often empty of other people, under the palms and the stars.  I don’t know how many evenings we have spent there over the past month or so, school nights and all. But its been quite therapeutic for us, so relaxing.  Maki disappears under the water with a snorkel and a mask and happily floats or swims, just listening to the quiet of the water, and Justine is able to splash and swim out her extra energy, happy to have my attention again.  Sandy and I can chat while stretching our our own limbs in the water with the kids.  This is has been a remarkable cup-filler for us all.  I love the closeness of it, just being together in water somehow seems to connect us a little more.

I think about how Vernon is begging for a drink of water while his family is immersed in it as often as we can be. There is a strange balance to it. I guess that’s water seeking its own level again.  It does that so well.