Water

My daughter did not take kindly to the changes being brought about to her young life. Yesterday, after a routine morning and the second of two naps, she woke up in a funky mood! To grab my attention she howled from her crib. I attended to her immediately amidst the flurry of guiding third grade homework, entertaining a four year old, and trying to prepare dinner. Once paroled from her crib my daughter found nothing right with her world. My attentions were not able to be solely on her, but as the youngest of three children you'd think she'd be getting used to that! Throughout the homework hour, the dinner preparation, and the dinner hour (which in our home is more like 4 1/2 minutes), my daughter cried, yelped, and made some other sounds I didn't know human babies could make! I tried all of the usual tricks:  diaper change, snacks, having four year old brother playing with her, and, yes dear readers, even the forbidden tv! NOTHING would placate this little girl. When at last her bedtime was approaching after hours of misery a wondrous thing occurred; her perspective changed.
That perspective change came in the form of her evening bath. Just starting the water produced an instant mood elevator. She patiently (as patient as an 11 month old can muster being) allowed me to disrobe her and plop her in the tub. The second her little body hit the bath her eyes lit up, her cries ceased, and a happiness overtook her that a parent wishes he/she could bottle and utilize for when those inopportune moments arise when the baby freaks out (gynecologist's visit, library time, Wednesday, etc.).
But water has that effect on most of us. When we've had a particularly trying, hard day, we might take a hot shower or a long soak in a bubble bath. When the children are sweltering and plum worn during an oppressive summer day, doesn't the kiddie pool or sprinkler do the trick to revitalize them? When I'm feeling frazzled myself, I long to see the sunlight glisten on the Lake (Hopatcong, Bear Pond) near my home. On vacation I enjoy the breathtaking magnitude and solace the ocean offers and revel in the rejuvenating qualities it provides. Even soaking one's feet after a long day is therapeutic. And, a cool glass of water quenches thirst and uplifts one's mood more than soda, juice, or liquor.
Water is the element that soothes, calms, cleans, relaxes, and placates. It can become violent (storms, my children's baths when they splash and get the floor soaked), but water returns to that hypnotic, serene body that attracts and seduces us. From infancy forward water is the life force we need to perpetuate. Mood elevator, life sustainer, muse, water changes our perspective. On behalf of my daughter and me, thank you, water.