The blue reflections of the sky remind me of the deep blue waters of the natural world: the ponds and lakes, the streams and rivers, the gulfs and oceans.

When I was young, visiting the American Southwest desert near Phoenix AZ and the Grand Canyon, I learned that water has the capacity to carve and shape the earth, even stone, over time. Oceans cut coastlines, wetlands eat trees, and flash floods are deadly. Combined with wind, the drench of a hurricane can wreak a whole city in minutes.

Water, usually a soft, gentle, flowing, sparkling, refreshing, life-giving necessity can also be one of the most powerful and destructive forces on the planet.

Just as the Colorado river cut through rock to create the Grand Canyon, the tears of our life cut their own path through our history, through our being. Our watery tears help express some of our experiences — of happiness, joy, sadness, anger, rage, melancholy — and these cumulative experiences create the patterning and decoration of our entire existence. Tears can also be life-affirming, and cleansing, reminding us we’re alive, and feeling, still flowing.

As we pour ourselves into the world, flowing around obstacles, leaving our own marks on people, on places, on things, on nature itself, we might remember that we, too, are mostly water, with just as much impact.

8239, the second quad in the collection, reminds us that water can clean, and water can cut, but water keeps moving. If life is a pool, let’s jump into the deep end, splash around, immerse ourselves in everything, and flow forward together.

Gallery sheet: https://ln5.sync.com/dl/828240310#qvdpns7y-wejumjy5-3ag7hgp6-b9wuevf7