I think I almost drowned

OK, sure, I had on that hot pink polka dotted life vest that flies in the face of all that is called fashion. But I feed off my Mom’s emotions, and I think I almost drowned.
Let me back up a bit.
I was having a good, if not wonderful, day on my boat, the Sammy Joe. Yeah, yeah, I am still trying to get the name changed, but am beginning to think it might be like becoming a saint – you have to die first. So maybe we should just stick with the sainted Sammy Joe.
I digress.

I did my usual go in the lake for a swim as soon as the anchor is dropped. My beautiful black hair gets very hot in the sun and I know the lake water will cool me down. The water is actually still fairly cold this time of year, as well as dirty, but it does the trick. After being pulled in when I get back to the front of the pontoon, I shake and rub myself all over any towels and clothes that happen to be at my disposal. Satisfied that everything else on the boat is now at least as wet as me, I sun myself to dry on the bench seat. Today we were fairly near a camp along the shore. We were at least near enough that I could see and hear some of what was going on, so that held my interest for quite a while. Mom read her book in the shade of my boat awning, then she moved to a sunny position at the front of my boat and read some more. After about three or four hours of this I started getting just a bit bored. The wind had picked up enough that I wasn’t getting hot, so I hadn’t gone swimming again. In fact, the wind had picked up so much that it was creating waves that rocked us just like if we were caught in the wake of another boat. On top of that it didn’t look like there were going to be any treats today. I was just thinking about asking to go in for another swim when Mom pulled the anchor, started her up and headed back toward the dock. I stood at the very front of my boat, facing the side as Mom navigated the waves. When I face the front, Mom knows that I am playing hood ornament. I always go to the side when I want to go in the water. Seeing this, Mom stopped the boat, put the awful life vest back on me and dropped me into the water. What she did NOT do was drop the anchor.

I make it my business to always, and I mean always, swim in a clockwise direction around the boat, usually just once. This time I found myself moving faster than usual along the first side. When I made the turn to cross the back near the motor, I started feeling the pull of the water. I made the second turn to swim back up the far side and get pulled in at the front. Then I realized it was like swimming in place. I don’t know if the current was pulling me away from my boat, or pulling my boat away from me. I just know I wasn’t making any progress. Mom reached over the side but couldn’t reach me. She told me to swim harder, but I was swimming as hard as I was able. She reached down and started paddling with her hands to try to get my boat closer to me so she could grab me. I think in her panic she forgot about the new, never used paddle she keeps inside the bench seat. Thankfully, her hand paddling must have worked; her fingers finally twined through the long hairs in my beard and pulled me around to the front where she could lift me to safety. Normally, I would have objected to being pulled through the water by my face, but this time all I felt was relief that she had ahold of me. I am Lexi, the not drowned schnauzer.