it's almost embarrassing, how much I laugh at that mutt, how much sheer, unthinking joy bubbles up when Cosmo just EXPLODES into the water every , a deep chest laugh before my brain even tries to catch up, like a gasp of pure, unfiltered being. and the dangerous part is, sometimes I think it's almost too much, this feeling, like if I just let go completely I'd dissolve right into the ocean, become just salt and shimmer, losing the edges of myself completely to THIS, and there's a tiny, almost imperceptible tremor that runs through my spine when I consider that, a visceral recognition of how delicate this all is, how easily it could just… shift. but then the sun hits the spray and it's all just rich, undeniable. that taste of ocean on my tongue, it's not just a taste, it's the answer to everything I ever asked.