Everyone is getting wet this summer. Charlie Campbell, who is one of my neighbors in Heartland and spends summers at his Yukon River fish camp, makes me ache with yearning to get back to water. Dermot Cole even took a break from the rigors of writing to haul his family by canoe down the Tanana. Next week we'll probably read about Tim Mowry trying to teach his dog team to swim in Badger Slough. Some people are drylanders, others are water babies.
Water babies love anything wet, from oceans to creeks to bathtubs.
They're the kids who are always in trouble for wading in puddles and who sneak outside during a warm summer shower to just stand there and look up at the heavens. Once you get them in, you can't get them out of a bathtub. They spend childhoods poking with a stick at mud puddles and exploring nearby creeks and ponds. They build rafts from old boards and rope and covet their neighbor's canoe. Being in a kayak, they think, is almost like being a gliding swan.