The Blog of d10

Toots couldn't swim.  Having a near death drowning as a young woman, she was petrified of the water.  She made sure that her brood had a great respect for the water and no fear.  We all learned how to swim. 

She was determined to conquer her fear.  This was something she would do privately.  Having a ocean front home she would spend day after day facing her fear and entering the cold Atlantic and give it another try.  This went on for years.  This older woman was being reborn.

For Stinky's third birthday she purchased him a rubber raft and a fishing pole and together they would share the cove.  She was his playmate. They had a very special bond from the day he arrived.  They proved to be crazy about one and other.  Nothing the old gal wouldn't do for one of her men, especially this one.  She continued to strengthen her swimming skills while they played in the cove.

She added to the new found freedom the purchase of  a big red canoe.  A brave purchase for a non-swimmer.  Sitting so high off the water is not a very comfortable place to be.  She would strap him into his life jacket and tie his rubber raft onto the the stern of the canoe and off they went exploring the cove.  Her love of nature and the outdoors was being passed on and Stinky loved every moment of it.  They would stop and pick wild flowers, blueberries and rasberries at waters edge, eating the berries before they got back home. Watch the egrets feed, race the tide in and out.  They became inseparable at the waters edge.  No one else exsisted for either one of them during these adventures.

I must admit, I envied them.  The two people I love most in the world could block the world out to include only each other.  I was only welcomed to be an observer watching from the shoreline.  It was a love affair like no other. 

Toots has since left for a different shore and Stinky remains here with a love for nature and the outdoors and yes, he too can swim.  He rarely talks about those memories but I know he hangs onto them,  because he swims.