Isn’t water amazing? I was thinking about this so much this past week as I watched my kids beaming as they played in various watery places around Yorkshire and we had some good family fun on water slides, in pools and in fountains. It’s just so amazing; it is beautiful and relaxing to look at sat by a lake or spraying from fountains, or running down hills as rivers and streams. Its breathtaking as it forms great waves that crash over walls, and yet it is calming to bathe in or sit in. To me it feels so refreshing when you can dive into it and I love to put my head under the water and swim through it. When we plan our holidays it is often a major factor – is there a lake, ocean or pool to swim and play in? Water is wonderful, and of course it creates hours of fun for families and kids.
I also think though that living where we do in the world we take water for granted as it’s just always there. When we need a bath or shower, to wash pots and clothes, hose the garden, wash the car, mop the floors, and when we are gasping for a drink it’s just always there for us…pure, clean and welcoming. Of course there are place in the world where it takes hours to get water and even then its not clean, and I cannot imagine what that would be like. I remember back in 2006 where I spent 18months living in Arizona, there was a drought which almost cost farmers so much in lost crops as it hadn’t rained for 3 months! And then how the tap water there was too sandy from the dirt of the desert to drink and so you could only drink bottled water. It took a lot to adjust to that way of life and remember to buy so many gallons of water when I went to the “store” so I could keep hydrated, cook and just have a simple drink when I wanted to. It was so different as it is in other countries we have travelled to, and so I truly think we are so blessed to have it clean and free flowing here, not only for the necessities of life but for pleasure too in park paddling pools, leisure centres, fountains and water parks.
I grew up loving water and playing in it and for as long as I can remember have enjoyed swimming; be at the pool, beach or in a river.. and my most exciting of memories come from trying water sports, seeing new beach views around the world and swimming in them, and the highlight of holidays is often swimming opportunities on Lakes, by the pool or again at the beach! The weather rarely put us off because we have so much fun in and around the water and I am so thrilled that my kids too love water as much as me. Any mention of it fills them with excitement and giddiness and they are fearless and have been from a very young age. They just love to jump in bomb style at the pool, run through every puddle and splash in it wherever possible. They are such little water babies and I love the moments, especially like this week , where the wonderful blessing of water has been at the centre of our plans and made for such happy moments and fun.
It is to us in our British lives, such an ordinary thing but I never tire of thinking how wonderful it is and continues to be for fun family moments. Water – I love it both for the necessities of life and for the pleasure it brings… how different life would be without it so easily accessible!
Linking up with Katie @mummydaddyme for #ordinarymoments
