Night Swimming...(Remember that R.E.M song?)

I don't suppose I've done this much swimming in the summer since I was a little kid. Seattle has had the hottest summer on record since temperatures were being recorded back in 1891. In certain places we have capped out at 109 degrees, though Seattle proper hit 103 last week. You'd think we were living in Arizona or something. I can't remember the last time it even rained! I'm not complaining about that fact, it's just a fact that I'm stating. It's been an incredibly hot summer and I've loved it.

My friends and I have frequented many, many of the lakes and rivers in the area during the day and even very late into the night for a swim. I love getting together with my darling friends and feeling so carefree, jumping off the docks and into what feels like bathwater for a late night swim. I've been relishing these days and nights. It goes something like this:

(A 10pm phone call and I'm almost in my jammies) "Hey Colleen! It's too hot to sleep so we are all going swimming, you in?" ....heck yes I am.

I love that fact that I can just up and go whenever I want. It's such a liberating feeling and when I arrive down at the dock I seriously feel like I'm twelve again. We all feel that way. You forget that really you are a grown up with a job and bills or a mortgage to pay. No. Down at the dock it's just you in your swimsuit and the laughter of your friends as you all splash and dunk and dive again and again, just like when you were a kid. I've floated on inner tubes, eaten drippy popsicles, gone to bed very late and watched my face explode with freckles these last 4 weeks.

These things have helped me to momentarily forget that I lost my job, or the fact that the relationship that I was in flopped or that I'm really not sure at all in what direction my life is going in whatsoever.

I guess what I'm saying is this...it's been a rough summer, but God's grace is still sufficient for me and I see that in the little things, no matter how small they seem, like night swimming. :)