Have you ever wondered why water means so much to us? Beyond what we need to drink and what we need for washing, or for getting our boats down river, water also forms the basis for some of our deepest connections to life. Even if you've never seen a brook up close and in person, you've doubtless seen at least one or two in a movie or nature show. Just for a few minutes, I want you to close your eyes and imagine you can hear the gurgling laughter of a spring bubbling its way over water-smoothed stones. If you truly cannot hear the sound of a babbling brook or spring, then try the roar of a water fall or the slow drip, drip of a slightly open faucet. Go ahead and try this exercise, and after a few minutes, return to reading this article.
If you were successful, you doubtless had images come to mind along with the sound of water. Those mental pictures may have come from your own experience, or they may have come from some larger, deeper place where all such images are recorded for eternal memory. The sound of water, heard anew or conjured from memory, has a way of connecting us to our deepest and most profound emotions, and thus our truest memories.
Our Watery Beginnings
For nine months (on average), we are formed inside another's body, cradled gently in warm water. After we are born, either gently or roughly removed from that watery warmth, we face a world where dryness becomes the norm. Dry blankets, dry diapers, dry bodies. Unless we go to the lake or swimming pool (or perhaps run through a sprinkler), most of us are expected to keep ourselves dry. Sweat is prohibited. Walking in the rain is considered foolish -- out comes the umbrella. Once creatures of a watery world, we are expected to adapt to the dryness of adulthood. No more playing in the mud or spending too much time in the tub.
Is it no wonder, then, that we yearn for a soft lapping of water against the sides of a boat drifting down a quiet stream? Or to hear the roar of surf along the ocean shore where breakers relentlessly paw at the dry earth as if to renew old relationships? Despite the threat of severe storms, our most highly prized land is still found along the shores of lakes, rivers and oceans. We who are landlocked covet the freedom of those who may visit the water's edge at their leisure, and carry it home in buckets full of shorelife.
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