this morning, my dad forced me to swim, fully-clothed, in the niagara river - cold, murky, with a hint of radioactivity and off-limits to swimmers - and then walk barefoot for almost two miles along a harsh asphalt path. later, as I balanced on the edge of the sink patching the various holes in my feet, he told me I was 'accident-prone'.


all I wanted was to spend a rare couple hours with my father before disappearing back to school. love you too, dad.


okay. actually, it went something like this: I dragged myself out of bed shortly after 9am, and he suggested that we go on a photography expedition before I took off with a friend for the afternoon. we went down to the river, ditched the car, and walked along the bike path. someone with a compulsion for tree-climbing noticed an old willow with branches spread over the water and decided she needed a picture of the shoreline from inside the tree. so, I kicked off my shoes, scaled the trunk, and dropped my lens cap into the relatively warm, murky, radioactive river. when my dad told me to roll up my pants and go get it, he didn't realize that it had floated far enough out that I actually had to swim to retrieve it. fully-clothed; that part was true. I decided on my own to walk back barefoot because my flip-flops were squeaking. but he did call me accident-prone, though that had more to do with the layers of skin I removed yesterday while slide-tackling the dog's ball across the carpet.


I should spend quality time with my dad more often. maybe next time we'll try niagara falls and see what happens.