on this beautiful if apocalyptically warm spring day . . . .

. . . I think of Bo, of her first days back in the water each year, gingerly taking first steps into the still cold river/pond, etc. before taking that last . . . one . . . step into the deeper water and then paddling paddling paddling after her ball. On especially warm days, after swimming, she would roll around, scratching her own back, as pictured, in the grass. Janel Nockleby, who took this photo and over 600 others of Bo, takes time on days like today to do stuff like walk around in nature and take photos. I so rarely do. When I handed in my thesis last week, of course I thought of my mom’s absence, that she isn’t here to read it, but I also thought of Bo, that she wasn’t here to see it either. Eh, she always turned her nose up at my work anyway. Okay, now I will go outside, I really will.