I learned to waterski when I was fifteen and have loved it ever since, though I rarely have a chance to do it anymore. What you learn quickly is that you must rely on the strength of your arms to first pull you up out of the water, and then to hold you up once you’re standing. It’s not your legs as you might imagine. Your legs are relatively useless until you’re up on the skis, then you need them, but only slightly.

The feeling I am holding onto today is that feeling when the wind has died down and the water is smooth, glass. Then you jump the wake and push out with your legs into the smooth water and what you feel it that your entire body feels free from gravity. You are flying. You are on a silk carpet.

And what it is is joy. Pure. Without compare.