Free-Floating Melodies

"And I don't care if I sing off key
I find myself in the melodies
I sing for love, I sing for me
I shout it out like a bird set free"
 - Bird Set Free, by Sia


Water.

I've realized how much I've missed rivers, pools, and lakes. While in Ecuador, I was able to go to the ocean once or twice a year, an experience which always renews me. A small handful of times, I took a bus to a city pool and paid the entry fee, but it was more chaotic than calm. I had to remember to bring a swim cap, my own lock and key to safely store things in a locker, an ID, to shower before entering the pool, and flip-flops. I was turned away once for not having flip-flops: the pool was right there across the cement floor, but an employee stood guard, refusing to let me pass in bare feet. The times I did make it in, I had to share a lane with one to three other swimmers, and had to continually keep an eye on the clock to make sure I didn't go over my allotted two hours.

There were no rivers or lakes in the city. There was, however, a set of hot springs I could visit outside the city. I once stayed there overnight, lounging in the warm pools past dark and sinking into them the next morning, perfectly relaxed. However the bus ride to get there was long and complicated. Going there for a few hours with friends who had a car was the most manageable option, but a rare one nonetheless.

This summer has been my first one back in Texas in six years. I'm in and near the water every chance I get. Swimming in my parent's pool a few times a week, visiting Barton Springs in Austin, going stand-up paddle boarding on Ladybird Lake, and now, kayaking. For my birthday, I was given a red kayak, and I couldn't love it more. When I took it out for the first time, I spent about two hours on the lake, swinging the paddle back and forth, back and forth, cutting through the water either with or against the wind. Turtles sunned themselves on logs along the shore and swam beneath my kayak, so close I wondered if I could scoop one up with my paddle. I floated and watched them. It was so peaceful.

Being in, on, or near the water is renewing. The sound of running water, the feeling of decreased gravity as one floats, and the very nature of water's life-giving quality to every animal and plant on earth is soothing in its vitality. It's freeing. So I swim, paddle, float, and listen to the melody of water as it moves, as it gives, as it frees.