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Water, Water, Everywhere…

jacquelineobyikocha

Water. What an apt theme for today’s Photo 101 course. It’s raining quite sensibly over here, with the rumbles of thunder growling in the background and there’s something about the elements that makes me feel so alive.

My mind is lost in a maze of thoughts and feelings as I tap to the drip-drop of the rainfall and the rumbles.  It simply makes me want to chatter over a nice cup of coffee.

It reminds me of naked and carefree days as a child dancing with glee in the rain and singing ‘rain, rain, go away,’ with my siblings and the neighbours kids, to our mothers dismay when they eventually caught us.

Rainy days reminds me of early days of learning to give myself a bath as a kid and my concentration point was to scrub my tummy over and over until my mother took over the sponge and gave such a thorough scrubbing that left me squeaky clean with tingling skin.

It takes me back to years gone by, of putting plastic pails under the corrugated zinc roof,  to collect pools of water from the rain due to the epileptic service of the water taps.

The days of going up and down the slippery, clay slope that led to the village stream with swinging kegs to fetch water for my grandma’s big pitchers pass through my mind. We would wade in and splash around in the stream before finding our way home, but my dalliance with water of deep depths was rudely brought to a stop one day, when a water snake came gliding by as we frolicked.

It scared the blinking daylights out of me. Hurtling out of the stream, my wading days in untamed water was over. I DESPISE snakes!!

I do love to wallow in the pool or the jacuzzi, when I get the chance, but I keep away from the deep end.

I know my paranoia comes from an incident back in the days, of witnessing a young man disappear into the waters of Tarkwa Bay in Lagos and was never found again.

This paranoia got further cemented with the loss of my brother-in-law to the cold, watery fingers of a lake in Ontario, Canada four years ago.

Nonetheless, I made sure to teach my children to swim and we dally with water with a lot of respect. At the beach, we only pluck our butts on the sand, play and maybe allow our toes to get wet. No more, no less.

It’s needless to say that human life cannot exist without this liquid essence.

My photos come from different places, and most times I take a landscape/horizontal shots for a wider perspective.

 

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Published by jacquelineobyikocha

A wordsmith with a vivid imagination, an eager mind and a burning desire to carve out tales. As I journey with my muse to that land of all possibilities and self discovery, I hope my personal evolution will serve as a beacon of inspiration for anyone who chooses to stop by.

32 thoughts on “Water, Water, Everywhere…”

  2. You are such a talented storyteller. I felt as if I were right there with you through this journey. Growing up in the bayous of Louisiana, I learned to respect the land & waters that belonged to the animals. 🙂

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  7. Lovely thoughts on water. You reminded me of my mom, who was terrified of the ocean, the swimming pool, and was so challenged when we got into either. Not sure why ? My dad insisted that we have swimming lessons very young, enrolled us in the YMCA. That fear would not be passed along. 💖

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  11. My son is an excellent swimmer at 10 from swim lessons at the Y, just like we got (an important skill!) I swim for fitness now (matter of fact in about 10 min here!) but I’m not particularly fond of water. The only water I truly enjoy is the water in my jetted tub!!

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    1. Now that jetted tub sounds blissful and relaxing. Swimming is really a skill that we need and I am glad that I didn’t allow my fear to over power the need to learn. It’s good that your son is an excellent swimmer. He will thank you for it later in life. Thank you Michelle.

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  13. I love rain, as long as there’s no lightning! When I was very young, I swam like a fish, then a classmate drowned; stepfather tried to force me to get past it by taking me way out into a lake so muddy you couldn’t see your hand under the water. The water was only up to his chest but he was over six foot tall. I totally freaked and didn’t swim again until a trip to California after graduation. I was doing great, was only using a light innertube, when a kid decided it would be funny to sneak up on me underwater and pull me under. That was the end of my swimming. If I go near the deep end of a pool I hang onto the side. A jacuzzi or hot tub? Bring it on!

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    1. I can totally imagine your horror Barb. I know how much I had to work on my mind before I could venture back into the water after that ugly incident and after we lost my brother in law. It’s really a living fear that tries to invade the mind. I am like you at the deep end. I hold onto the sides. Hot tubs and jacuzzi’s are wonderful 🙂

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    1. I’m down in SE Texas and am so grateful that, although we’ve had a lot of rain, the totals aren’t even close and we’re not having any major flooding in the Beaumont/Port Arthur area. However, I’m tired of rain, too.

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I love it when you decorate my heart with your words..