The waves washed, with a gentle and cold breeze, along the shore. I stripped down to my boxers and admired the glitter of the risen moon on the water's surface. I walked close enough to the water, dipped a toe in, and shivered. It was nice and cool, the perfect remedy for another warm-blooded summer.
The almost stagnant water resembled a glass mirror, mirroring most of the sky as well as my nimble, and naked figure. What a wonder; according to chemistry water was a cross between hydrogen and oxygen. But it was more than that.
I took a deep breath and dove right in. The cold shocked me, by the time I resurfaced I felt refreshed, and my hot brain cooled and ready to think. How could two gases make you feel so alive? Water was truly a wonder.
I took another dive, taking in some of the seawater. It was salty. Another thing that troubled me about water. Why could we drink it? Why was it good for us? Water wasn't the only liquid on the planet, but we don't cool off on a hot summer's day in a pool of oil, drinking a nice chilled bottle of petroleum.
I left the water for shore, and washed the taste of salt from my mouth with bottled water. Then I lay back and watched the sky. It was truly a beautiful night, the stars were out now and they met the earth on the water's surface. I was reminded of a story my grandmother told me. It was how life came from the water; I'm sure there is a more scientific explanation for it, but hers was magical.
I was more relaxed now, and as my body sank into the sand, I could really imagine it. If memory served me right, The Spirit of Life dreamt of land and sea, and when the dream wasn't real enough Life was sent into the ocean. Life taught the secret of dreaming to the fishes, who dreamt of the wet sand. Irritated by their dream, fishes passed the secret of dreaming to the tortoise, who dreamt about smooth stones. Irritated by this dream, the tortoise passed the secret of dreaming to the lizard, who dreamt about the sky and wind. Irritated the lizard passed the secret of dreaming to the eagle ... and so on until man.
I guess water means a lot to different people. It means more to scientists than nonscientists, and more to dreamers than realists. I'd like to think my curiosity makes me a scientist and my goals make me a dreamer, but I know I'm a sum of my experiences. So water is pure, magical, beautiful, and more as I grow in life.
