Iwo Xihua Shui
by Warr
I love water. I always have and I hope I always will. Whether
it's sitting on the shore of some lake, sunbathing at the ocean
beach or even just walking the rain; water has a comforting
presence that I enjoy being around.
I remember back when I was about three years old - my parents
took me to this large lake for a small picnic and a day of fun.
There were other families there with their kids and everyone was
having a good time. Mothers were handing out food while keeping
an eye out for the youngest kids, fathers were drinking Kirin or
watching their wives and the kids were swimming in the lake or
splashing about the shore. I saw how easy and fun swimming looked
and asked my father if I could go swimming with the other kids.
He asked if I knew how and relented to my resounding, "Yes!"
So I ran to the end of the dock jumped in and immediately started
to sink. It wasn't nearly as easy as it looked and I'd never been
swimming before in my life; needless to say, my panicked father
had to jump in and save me. I took it in stride, no way would
one little mishap keep me from this element they call water. It
had a grip on my soul.
We are lunch after Dad and I dried off then while Mom packed up
I wandered off to walk around the lake. About and hour and
three-fourths of the lake later, my frantic parents found me and
yelled at me for getting lost. I hadn't been lost; I'd been walking
around, enjoying the lake that they had brought me to, the view and
the sheer wonder of it all. Try explaining that to parents who walk
away from their picnic to find their child missing. I still visit
that lake and hope to take any children I will eventually have there,
though, hopefully without any incidents such as the ones I caused.
Many people also complain about the rain, but I love that as well.
While everyone else walk around under their umbrellas, I will
sometimes find myself tossing the umbrella aside and reveling in the
rain. The sound of the drops splashing on the ground, rooftops,
empty cars and windowpanes leads to a symphony of nature's creation.
My favorite thing, though, has to be a long hot bath. I slide into
the warm liquid which engulfs me in its soothing embrace. The
pressure of the water works loose muscles I didn't even know were
taut and as I step out onto the cold tiles bringing with me the
swirls of the mist, I know, if only for one second, that all is
right in the world.
Lately, however, I find water a pain, especially… cold water. No
longer do I run freely through a summer rain storm. The rain drops
bring sadness where once they found only joy. I think these thoughts,
ironically enough, while walking down the road hiding under an umbrella
from the rain with my fiancee. It is just now, however, that I find
resolve to do the thing that earlier had annoyed me. I turn to my
fiancee and before letting doubt creep in, I ask, "Ranma? Will you
teach me how to swim? There's a heated, indoor pool just down the
road. It would get us out of this cold rain at any rate…."
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