057: I am grateful for water

Today I woke up grateful for water. I didn’t really have to think about it at all. It could be because there’s so much of it falling from the sky today, but I’m not sure. It’s raining cats and dogs out there tonight as well. The wind and rain a wreaking havoc around town and BC Hydro is reporting multiple power outages according to their outage map.

I haven’t always liked water, I was terrified of it as a kid. It took me a long time to learn to swim, and I never did become a strong swimmer, but I did lose my fear. That happened when, fishing rod in hand, I fell off the side of Dad’s cabin cruiser and whacked my head on the gunwale on the way into the water, stunning myself. I found myself underwater looking up at the bottom of the boat and made my way back to the surface where I cried only, “I love my fishing rod!” Not sure why, but after that I wasn’t afraid of water any more.

What is water?

Water or H2O is “the most abundant molecule on Earth’s surface, constituting about 70% of the planet’s surface. In nature it exists in liquid, solid, and gaseous states. It is in dynamic equilibrium between the liquid and gas states at standard temperature and pressure. At room temperature, it is a nearly colorless with a hint of blue, tasteless, and odorless liquid.” [source]

Water is so prevalent in fact that we, human beings that is, are made up of between 60% and 78% water, depending on who you ask. That’s a lot of the wet stuff. I had better be grateful for something that makes up so much of me.

I don’t drink a lot of water. Don’t get me wrong, a cold glass of water sure is nice once in a while but I like my liquid to have a little oomph. My intake of water comes mostly from coffee, orange juice and diet pop. I’ll probably be dead in a week. I know, I know. Eight glasses of water a day. You know what fish do in that, right? Kidding.

Water keeps us clean. To get the dirt and crud off clothes, dishes and even our own bodies we use a water. We use water to flush away our waste too. We use A LOT of water.

Here in Western culture we are lucky to have clean water accessible to us at the turn of a tap. Not everyone is so lucky. Have a look at this video done for GOOD Magazine for 2008’s World Water Day:

Makes me think more about water conservation that’s for sure.

Thanks water for being such a big part of me and my life!

Photo by Wester on Flickr