The Gift of Water

This morning I'm thinking about water. I live in Washington State where we tend to bemoan our overabundance of water, especially in the fall and winter. Our summer droughts in recent years have been shocking and disorienting. But this morning as I sat at my kitchen table and looked out to the yard, I was struck by what one small container of water can do. My husband and I love to bird watch and we hang bird feeders in our yard. One of the unfinished projects (see yesterday's post) still in the design phase is a small fountain that would give the birds a water source. In the meantime, we're using a large ceramic dish with a couple of good-sized rocks as perches. We fill it with water and set it on top of a tall planter in the yard. This morning, as I drank my coffee (another miraculous way to appreciate water) I watched a towhee take a bath. I know I'm anthropomorphizing, and some will object to that, but that bird was having a ball! He fluttered and splashed and generally made a wet mess. And I thought, isn't water the most wonderful thing? Our bodies require it and so do our spirits. Right now, I am incredibly grateful to be able to get wet whenever I chose and to be able to offer that joy to the towhees too.