If Yonah had any hankering to become some kind of water-based superhero, those aspirations were drowned by our visit to our friend Shari’s the other day. I love visiting Shari for a number of reasons. Besides her company, of course, she has three fantastic kids in their early teens who are happy to entertain Yonah, leaving Shari and I to chat like actual grown-ups. She also has a big, beautiful house in Osterville, a neighborhood I drive through with my mouth literally hanging open. I have never seen such gorgeous homes; they make me giddy, like a bottle of champagne uncorked in my belly.

This, by the way, is an aspect of what I like to call “House Envy”, the female counterpart to Freud’s pathological “Envy” unique to the male sex, relating to a certain part of their anatomy. While men constantly compare their physical attributes, women tend to compete more in the arena of marble countertops and stainless steel appliances.

Anyway, in the back of Shari’s house is a sprawling yard and an olympic-sized pool, which these days is still covered with a winter tarp. After throwing the dirt from her garden onto the patio, Yonah took a keen interest in the big green “thing” on the ground. He took a tentative step onto it (with me running up closely behind), and then another, at which point the tarp dipped down and up sprung a HUGE puddle of water. Yonah was soaked! He was also a little shaken up, but was over it in about 30 seconds, after I had scooped him up, brought him inside and stripped him. He got to spend the next couple of hours running around in an oversized T-shirt while his clothes went through the dryer. Although all ended happily, I’m pretty sure Yonah won’t be trying out for the swim team anytime soon.