Night Swimming

Night swimming. Bittersweet. I am 14 years old and I'm lining up out all the reasons I should be allowed to go night swimming with my "summer friends" to my dad. He's retired from the Coast Guard. Search and Rescue. And Recovery. To seal the deal I remind him that in the fall I'll be heading off to Boarding School and then what? I’ll still be 14 but the opportunities to go unseen are potentially endless. I remember his smile. I've just won.

To this day I recall the phosphorescence, stirred up by our kicking feet and the arms that pushed out and away, propelling our buoyant, young bodies towards the center of the harbor. I think about the tones of his voice, the sounds of the chains chaffing their moorings, and now, of my son, who is 14 in this summer of 2018…

…and now, just what if - what if he asks me if he can go night swimming with "summer friends" ....?