What is it about water that is so calming? It doesn't seem to matter if it's a small stream wandering crookedly through a park, a local river that's deep enough to fish in, one of the 10,000 lakes up north, a small waterfall like this one, or the Big Niagara. Water just plain makes a person feel good.
A great part of our summer vacations through the years were spent at lake resorts or on the Mississippi. When we were first married, we'd rent a small cabin for a week. As part of the package, we'd get a small boat, but you'd have to pay to use a motor. We didn't have alot of money to spend, so we'd use our muscles and the oars to get us out by the reeds close to shore. The loons in Minnesota at sunset called out and mesmerized us with their wailing cries. We'd watch 'em go under the water and wait for them to pop up in another place.
As kids we fished all the time and picked nightcrawlers and worms for our bait. After a rain, they'd come out and crawl on the sidewalks. I liked picking them like that rather than walking around in the dark pulling them out of the ground. It was a test for me to do that kinda stuff without acting like a prissy girl. Now, years later, it drives me nuts to put a wiggling nightcrawler on a hook. At this stage, it's okay for me to have girlish tendencies. I don't have to impress the guys anymore!
Maybe water soothes our souls cuz aren't our bodies supposedly about 2/3rds water? It's in our blood, our muscles, our skin, all over the place. The older I get, I find myself drinking more and more water. Wonder why that is. We didn't have running water in our house until I was 8 years old. Before that, a water pail sat on the kitchen cupboard with a dipper in it. When we were thirsty, we dipped out some water and we all drank from the common dipper. None was wasted either. Who'd ever thought there'd come a day that we'd buy water, but we do. Whether bottled water is any better than tap, well, the jury is still out on that one. But, the bottled water is so easy to take with us in the car or to a ball field, plus it's just the trendy thing to do. Have to admit, though, we do refill the plastic bottles to save money. I've read that's not a good thing to do, but that's another thing for the jury to ponder.
(Trivia question: Which beer came from "the land of the sky blue waters?")