Arwen, Sheila, Angie, and I went out at the Albany bulb this morning—the first time the four of us were all swimming together since early June. It was cloudy and cool as we ventured into the low low tide. The bottom grew increasingly muddy, my feet sinking into the muck, as I searched out deep enough water to glide into. Finally, I remembered what a full moon low tide is like and realized it could be half a mile before I found it, and I flopped into the shallows.

Soon we forgot about the mushy earth inches below us and swam as if we were in the depths of the ocean. We chatted and laughed as we moseyed along. At one point a swimmer was coming toward us and when she popped her head up, we could see it was Caz.

“Are those The Chatters?” she said. “Welcome back!”

True to our name, we stopped to chat with her before she carried on back to shore. After another few minutes, we ran into Edy and Catherine and stopped to chat again.

“Let’s make a mermaid star to celebrate your return!” said Edy.

So we held hands in a circle and put our feet/fins together to make a star. It was the kind of whimsy I associate with Edy and Catherine and it made me so glad to see them again; to share this water with the loveliest of people. 

After that, we got a bit serious and swam out to the big tree and back in again.