It is Friday again. A good day for looking back and forward. Back at the year that has been and forward to the coming events. Soon we will have five months left in 2026. It will go quickly. The BER months are almost here. My favorite time. October brings my 69th birthday, or as I say, almost 70. I drop that line now and again to make a point. There is joy in the journey.

‘I love floating on the deep water,’ Billy B thought as the birds sang. ‘Next Saturday will be August 1st, and then school begins,’ Billy B thought as he was lost in the water. ‘I wonder who that man is waving to me on the far bank of the lake,’ Billy B mused. ‘He looks strangely familiar,’ Billy B said.

‘Hello there, matey,’ the Familiar Man said. ‘You are adept at floating,’ FM noted. ‘I lived in a little town near here many years ago,’ FM remarked. ‘My wife and I and our little boy who looked a lot like you,’ FM continued. ‘He loved to float too and spent hours on the deep water with only his face showing,’ FM recalled. ‘We divorced, and I moved away,’ FM spoke softly.

‘Mom says the hot dogs and hamburgers are ready,’ Boy announced with a wide smile. ‘Cousin Brenda is going to join us for a picnic lunch,’ Boy continued. ‘Then I will float in the deep water while you swim,’ Boy told his Dad. ‘Later we will go to Granma A’s house for watermelon,’ Boy said. ‘Nugget will be barking and baring his teeth if we get too close,’ Boy laughed. ‘I will sleep on the couch and Narky, Grandma’s new name for Nugget, will sleep in the chair watching me throughout the night,’ Boy observed.

Out of the trees walked a lovely brunette woman in her 30s, who called to the Familiar Man and his son to come for dinner. Billy B considered, as he floated on the deep water, that the Boy was him…