Still love the guy

Every year or so, I pick up the phone and call my late cousin's first husband, John Booth (of the Booth lumber Booth's, those Booth's).  We've been friends for 59 years and he always picks up.  We then fall effortlessly into the most intimate chat, as if no years have passed.  Just called him and once again, we dove nostalgically into the past and present.

I first met him in 1966, when he and my cousin got together.  That first summer, I dated his younger brother, Bill.  What a time we all had.  We spent a lot of it up at the Booth home in The Seigneury Club (now a Fairmont hotel) and their nearby cottage on Lake Commandant.  

The Seigneury Club in Montebello, now a Fairmont.

Heady times for me, what with servants and a cook and all the other accoutrements the wealthy take for granted.  Whenever I watch professional waterskiing, I think of John and Bill.  You have to have rich parents to be that good because the rest of us had to work all summer; you guys just waterskiied from morning 'til night.

Examples of how John and Bill skiied

John was a better skier than this guy; his shoulder was only an inch from the water.

One weekend, John spent endless, patient hours teaching me to get up on one ski and thanks to him, I finally managed it!  As for the Booth brothers, they never even got wet.  Just jumped off the dock on one ski and landed back on the dock, as dry as the rest of us watching.

My phone call made me appreciate just how lucky B and I are.  We are relatively healthy, so it shocked me to hear that John's wife has dementia.  Heavens, she's seven years younger than I!  

In another shocker, B got an email from an old friend to tell him his wife had died because of a lack of  "mobility and vitality".  Apparently, she had been bedridden for the last few years and she too is younger than both B and I.  Not sure if his wife exercised, but he remains an avid walker.

Both these stories have made it clear that I HAVE to keep swimming -- even though I NEVER want to get out of bed in the morning to trudge to that godforsaken pool!

Arrrrrgh!