In my book, summer doesn't officially begin until you've had your first close encounter with water. Thanks to an unusually warm spring, this year we got a jump on the season and were able to hit the river in mid May.  Actually, as of this posting, I've had two river encounters:  first a few weeks ago with Grayson, and again just last weekend with Grayson and John.

At the risk of flogging the subject, I'm still amazed at the amount of water being wantonly squandered and wasted by the natural landscape of Arkansas. No Oklahoma landscape would dare to be so profligate with water!  But here it's bubbling out of the ground and coursing through streambeds at every turn.

Case in point: this wonderful nameless creek, just ten minutes from our house. This is a wonderful little spring-fed waterway that meanders through south Bella Vista, emptying at last into Bella Vista lake. It's deep enough to swim in at several locations, and swift enough to knock you off your feet if you're not careful in others. It winds through a beautiful public park just as it approaches the lake, and it's easily accessable and nearby.  To me, it's practically the Riviera.

I mean, seriously, what more could you ask for?  Clear, cold, moving water, bright sunshine, a rocky beach, and a beautiful natural setting--all for free and within minutes of our house!  Add a red solo cup full of margarita and  Bam! You're in frickin' Cabo San Lucas!

So on Saturday we loaded up an ice chest full of snacks and drinks (Capris Sun for Grex, bloody Marys and margaritas for John and me, respectively), and spent the day river-walking.

I don't know what it is about rocks and water that makes me so happy, but it seemed to work on John and Grayson, as well.  We took a bunch of photos and John's pretty much grinning like an idiot in every one.  He had clearly been river-deprived for far too long.  It's just not good for the spirit to be away from moving water for an extended period of time, at least that's my philosophy. It was gratifying to see both my boys having fun.  we explored the creek, saw lots of crawdads and fish, one snake (well, the boys saw it, I missed it), and one frog, which we caught and released.

It was good to get some good outdoor summer fun time in with Grayson before he left, too.  I took him to his dad on Tuesday evening and he won't be home again until June 24.  That's nearly four weeks without him!  I've never gone so long before without my boy.

He won't mind. He has spent the past few days at Texoma with my folks, then he'll spend a week with his dad, then a week at camp, and then another week with his dad, who has signed him up for a filmmaking class and some sort of program at the zoo in Oklahoma City, so he'll be busy and content. It's me who will be lonely and pitiful by the end of the second week. I always think I'm going to do more with my grown-up time than I ever actually do, and as much as I complain about Grayson's constant high-volume Cartoon Network and spontaneous mess generation... it's awfully quiet without him.

Help is on the way, however.  John has essentially moved in with me for the interval. He arrived Wednesday night with a suitcase and a toothbrush, and we are conducting experiments in cohabitation.  It's been a long time since I've shared space with anyone besides Grayson, so this could be revelatory. For both of us, in fact.

It occurs to me that I have several strikes against me as a housemate.
1) I'm a slob
2) I'm lazy enough to not even care most of the time that I'm a slob
3) I'm not much of a cook or a meal planner and would gladly live on cereal and red wine
4) I have three dogs who like to sleep on the bed and bark in the middle of the night

And these are just the obvious ones. There's a whole realm of emotional and psychological strikes against me that we won't even mention.  We'll see if John can take it.