As a little girl I loved the creek by my Aunt Norma's house. After a rain it filled so much and ran so swift that we weren't allowed to play around it, but on a normal day it didn't have much water in it so it was a great place to play. We could catch crawdads, worms, minnows and tadpoles. Some of the poor tadpoles would then be held captive until they became frogs. We would play for hours getting wet and muddy and sometimes in trouble because it was easy to lose track of time when you were playing in the creek.
When I was young I also loved Winnie the Pooh books. I especially remember the games of pooh sticks that were played in some of the stories. I loved playing Pooh sticks and even taught the game to my kids. The game, for those of you that have never had the chance to learn it, is played by all contestants dropping a stick on one side of the bridge then running to the other side to see whose stick would come out first. This can only be accomplished, of course if you drop the stick off the correct side of the bridge. For if, you see, you drop it off the wrong side of the bridge, it won't go under the bridge at all, but on down the creek. I give this bit of information, because as a young child I had to learn that the hard way by losing what could have potentially been a winning stick. I know on occasions that I didn't have anyone to play with I loved to play the game alone by choosing two sticks and seeing which would win. I know.... simple minds.. but it was a great way to entertain myself and not destroy anything. I think my goal of this spring is to teach my older grandsons the game of Pooh sticks. They may think Grandma has lost it by playing such a boring game, but I have a feeling that they will be interested as well. There is just something about such a simple game that is intriguing. I challenge you to play at least a game or two yourself.
Water is such an important part of our lives. Our body is more than 60% water. It is something we can't live without, but we take it for granted. I know I have EJ Water at our house and we have never had a time when water didn't free flow from my faucet at our home. In other homes I have lived we had well water and if the pump quit there was no water, or if the well ran dry you were pretty much out of luck until it rained or you hauled water in. After a time or two of getting nothing out of a faucet one learns quickly to appreciate the preciousness of water.
As I said, flowing water is something that has always caught my attention. To watch a stream or a river flow is something that could entertain me for hours. Watching its swift current and seeing the items it picks up along the way is something of a work of art. I hope someday to be able to capture a photo that will truly show the beauty of it.
Today, besides scheduling a game of Pooh sticks in your future, I challenge you to think about a water current, and how it in someways stays in its banks but it also continues to carve its own path as well. Over time it becomes bigger or sometimes it makes an entirely new path by slowly changing the world around it. I think we can be like a river, we can help change the world for the better by slowly eroding the negativity by being positive and using smiles and good deeds to help make a new path. Let's give it a shot.
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