Bellflower

I don't know why I even wore shoes. By the end, they were full of water. I guess that's what you get for jumping in all the puddles the eye can see. Today was just a strange day. Don't get me wrong, it was not bad, it was good... but strange. So when my thoughts wouldn't leave me alone I put on my running shoes and ran... in the rain. I have been running (almost) every day recently because the dolphins swim around my head and make me happy! But today was extra special. There is something glorious about the rain and running in the rain makes it even better. Honestly, I do not know how to explain it other then to simply tell you I love the water drops that fall from the sky so much and I do not know what I would do without it. There are those who hate the rain and that blows my mind. I cannot begin to understand how they feel that way. All I know is that I will always enjoy my love affair with the rain.
But it's not just the rain. It's water in general. I love it. I think it is amazing. Have you ever stopped to think about water? It is an everyday occurrence for most and it is a little random but I got to thinking about it one day and thought how miraculous it was.
Water. The essence of life.
In seventh grade, I got my Scuba certification and I remember swimming in the training pool back and forth across the bottom floor never ever wanting to come up. (I could you see because of the oxygen tank on my back.) The longest we spent down there was 15 minutes but the Heber crater was a different story. At that special place we stayed under water for 45 minutes. It was probably my favorite 45 minutes of my life. The crater just goes down, down, down and we had to be careful of the pressure but we ourselves went down, down, down. Because of the depth of the crater, there are platforms under water as you get lower and lower into the water. There were four in my certification group and so when the others were passing off the ways to remove their masks and such to Constantine (our Russian Scuba instructor) I floated on the platform busily looking all around. It was very dark except for a few lights on the side and I remember thinking how crazy it was to be breathing under water. I also wondered if there was a way to eat under water, that way I could be the worlds first recorded mermaid....
Last spring break, I went with my friend and my old charter school to Moab. We went on a night hike and eventually found a place to lay down and watch the stars. Around us were the arches and one of the teachers was explaining to us how this all used to be underwater and I suddenly got scared. Not terrified scared but I couldn't imagine it scared. The arches were so big and even daunting and I tried to imagine water all around me and it actually worked. I saw fish swimming under and over the arches and the moon light streaming through the water. It was beautiful.
I guess that's what you get for such a big imagination.

photo credit Jane Heller