Have you ever thought about this?

“With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you’re connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live. Most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by the sea.” — Sylvia Earle

Throughout my adult life, I’ve been particularly grateful that I live in a place where clean, fresh water is available in my home every time I need it. Both hot and cold, just turn a tap and there it is, as much as I want. I don’t even have to think about it.

But I do.

Most of the time when I’m using water for any reason, I offer thanks to The Powers That Be for this beautiful blessing. I remember being a kid and first learning about Third World countries and people not having food, and even worse, if they have water at all, it’s water in which animals are standing (not to mention other things they’re doing in it). I learned that people in those countries often walk miles to get some of this water and carry it back home — sometimes many times a day.

Their lives are spent walking to obtain filthy water that’s teeming with bacteria and parasites — water that they have no choice but to drink in an effort to stay alive.

The irony is that this water is also killing them.

How often do we think about those people as we go about our lives?

I’ve donated monthly to a favourite water charity for many years, a pittance compared to what is needed. My greatest wish is that someday everyone on the planet will have access to clean, safe water.

Although I’m always mindful of my gratitude for clean water, over the past week my appreciation for it has been front and centre in my mind.

Last month, there was a major pipe break in northwest Calgary. It was so significant that the entire city of nearly 1.7 million people, plus several outlying smaller cities and towns, have been impacted. Almost immediately, our water supply dropped to a critical level. We’re on a strict water ban for outdoor use, and have been told to dramatically reduce indoor use, e.g. limit use of dishwashers (dumbest appliance ever), do minimal laundry, don’t shower/bathe more than every few days — etc.

On top of our basic needs, the City is especially concerned about maintaining enough of a water supply in case of fires.

Throughout these weeks of repair and daily updates, they’ve said that if everyone continues to do their part, we might just get through this without running out of water.

It seems impossible to consider that we could actually “run out of water.” Such a basic part of life for many of us who are used to the luxury of having it in our homes. Hot or cold, fresh and safe — it’s always there with the turn of a tap. Without it, we would die after just a few days. Yet we take it for granted and think nothing of having access to it — until that access is threatened.

Calgary is known for being “the cleanest city in the world” and the quality of its Rocky Mountain water is also stellar. Provided by the glacier-fed Bow and Elbow rivers, there’s very little population between the mountains and Calgary so we’re blessed with beautiful, clean water.

Yes, of course tap water is chlorinated and blah blah blah…but as far as municipal drinking water goes, it’s fabulous and tastes much better than some I’ve had in other parts of the world.

I just remembered a woman who came to me for a psychic reading several years ago. As I always did with clients, I offered a drink, a cup of tea, etc. She asked for water, so I brought her a glass of Calgary’s best.

She turned up her nose, scowled and barked, “I don’t want this disgusting tap water! I only drink bottled water!”

Um…I’m not in the habit of buying bottled water. And certainly not with such high quality water flowing from my taps. I’ve got no idea why people think bottled water is better. In fact, city water is regulated for safety (not talking about developing countries). Bottled water may or may not be, depending on where it was produced and where you live.

I figure it’s a bit (okay, a lot) ridiculous to expect that others will have bottled water, and if you’re a diva in that regard and refuse to drink the stuff that comes from a tap, then you should probably take your own with you in case the rest of us contemptible lowlifes only use what comes out of a faucet.

Side note: I offered to make one of the several kinds of tea I had but with great disgust, my client refused rudely, sneering, “Not with that water!”

I sat here last night, sending light and positive energy into the area where the pipe has been replaced as well as the entire 5,000km of our water system that is now gradually being refilled and watched closely for ruptures. I trusted that the repair will hold and that millions of people will continue to have plenty of fresh, clean water. As I focused on gratitude for the repairs, snippets of water-related memories flashed through my mind like ticker tape…

• Being a kid and loving the wicked thunderstorms on hot summer days on the Saskatchewan prairies. The rain left delightful puddles to splash in, or I’d sit on the curb and squish cool mud between my toes.

• Running through the sprinkler, my favourite being the twirly kind, not the back and forth, giant fork-like kind.

• Stopping in the valley on the way to my grandparents farm as a kid and drinking from the spring that poured out of the hill.

• Drinking from a pail of icy cold, fresh water from the well on that farm — the dipper sat in the pail and everyone would just grab it, scoop some water in it and drink out of it. No glass required!

• Loving being in the lake, but not when I got as deep as my chest. Panic set in and I was terrified of drowning. As a toddler, my parents left me on a pier while they sat on a beach. They weren’t looking when I fell in. I disappeared into the water and miraculously found my way out. They said I was never the same about water after that day. Go figure.

• I was 6 when my mum bribed me to take swimming lessons at the lake with my cousins. I did not did not did not did NOT want them but she said that if took the lessons, I could have a sweet little round, red purse that I’d seen in a shop. It had a white kitten on the front. I relented, but was so freaked out after the first lesson and being unable to put my face in the water, she let me off the hook. And she still gave me the adorable little purse.

• In Grade 3 (I was 8) I learned that the high school I would one day attend had a pool and I would have to take swimming lessons as part of Grade 10 Phys. Ed. For 7 years, I was in a panic. “I’ll fail gym class! How does anyone fail gym class??”

• Fast forward, I survived the first swimming lesson in Grade 10 — again, unable to put my face in the water and tearfully freaking out throughout the whole, shivering, I-hate-cold-water-get-me-the-hell-out-of-here nightmare. I was rushing to get to the dressing room so I could get dressed and hoof it waaaay across the giant high school (approx 2,000 students) to my next class. The floor was wet, I slipped, and yay! I broke my elbow! Bonus! 🎉 No more swimming lessons! And I got out of floor hockey after that. Double bonus! 🎉🎉

• I remember one particularly horrific migraine. Thought it might be an aneurysm or stroke. I stood in a shower for ages, the only thing that helped being scalding hot water pouring onto the half of my head that was trying to explode.

• Soothing, hot bubble baths, especially comforting and soul-nurturing during times of extreme stress or sadness. My father’s death, my young teen daughter missing for days, weeks, months…not knowing if she was dead or alive…another daughter having emergency brain surgery, the neurosurgeon saying it was a miracle she hadn’t died years earlier…too many divorces, betrayals, losses…thank heaven for hot bubble baths.

• After my leg injury and surgery (20 months ago), it was 6 months before I could finally get into a tub — an ordeal but I did it! And as I sank into the water, I cried. No more sponge-bathing. Pure bliss!

• After that injury, it was 14 months before I was steady enough on my feet for a shower. That first day (and with every shower since), I stood with water pouring over me, whispering, “Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you”, so grateful for having healed enough to get to that point.

Do you pay attention to how often you turn on a tap? A quick hand-wash, cooking rice, lentils, porridge, making soup, washing fruit and veg, washing dishes, doing laundry, cleaning your home, cleaning yourself! And let’s not forget the incredible convenience of…flushing… Outhouses are no fun! Especially in minus 40 temperatures! 🥶 And at 3 a.m. 😵‍💫

Countless times a day, we head to a sink, crank a tap, and get fresh, clean, safe water. Do we also give enough thanks for this incredible gift?

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