“Just take the picture!”

The boathouses on Canandaigua lake. (iPhone photo by BobbaLew.)

—“Just take the picture,” I kept saying to myself. “Then send her the picture. You might get a response.”
I was walking my silly dog at Kershaw Park north of Canandaigua lake. I decided to try the historic boathouses west of the park. First time for everything.
Before going I decided to not text my aquacise instructor. Too many texts already, partially due to my good friend ******.
But there I was next to the historic boathouses on Canandaigua’s City-Pier, and the light was pretty good.
Oh well, maybe she’ll like the picture. It’s evidence of my first visit.
I unholstered my iPhone to take the picture. Not easy with a lunging Irish Setter. Plus my iPhone was asleep — waking it is always multiple tries with freezing fingers.
Later, back in my car, I texted the picture to my aquacise instructor. All I said was “first time;” avoiding my usual torrent.
BAM; almost immediately. “Wow Bob. That’s great!!! Is this with your phone camera?”
“This picture is not exactly what I wanted,” I said.
“But I like it. You can edit it.”
Later, from home: “RE: ‘editing.’ Done it, but the camera has to be aimed right.”
Again, almost immediately: “Just be happy. Perfection is highly overrated.”
That aquacise instructor is the classiest woman I ever met, even more than my wife, although she isn’t my wife — who was very well-suited for who I was back then. She died almost seven years ago, and I feel like I no longer am the person I was while married.
I also feel it’s a shame she can’t experience who I became — which was because of her.
“Just take the picture,” I kept saying; hurled this-way-and-that by my lunging monster. “Yer likely to get a response.”
And to me the picture isn’t extraordinary.

• I do aquatic balance training in the Canandaigua YMCA’s swimming-pool, two hours per week — plus a third hour on my own. The class leader is my “aquacise instructor.”
• I didn’t get the picture as far left as I wanted. It’s nearly impossible to properly aim a hand-held camera while being thrown by a leashed dog. It’s amazing I got it level.