Enduring Love

Her flirtation with it started when she first got her own wheels - her bicycle. Her freedom. She would pedal, as fast as her short legs could pump. Breezing against the winds to reach the oceans from where the winds came. Carrying the salty taste and smell of fish on them. The oceans which had the power to calm her soul, soothe her thoughts with the gentle splashing of her waves. And wet her legs. She loved getting wet.

Hot summer afternoons spent watering the assorted plants her Mom was in the habit of collecting and planting in their garden. Making rainbows. Filling up those balloons her Dad got for them and splashing her siblings and cousins and getting splashed in retaliation. Dunking in the water tank and stirring up the sediments. Settling in the bucket of warm water she was supposed to be bathing with.. until someone knocked on the door and pulled her out of her reverie.

Daring her cousins into letting her down in the well holding onto a rope; taking a tumble and almost drowning while meandering on a tube in the pool. She was always testing her love. Tugging on the bindings. Embracing it wherever she could. Cooling off at a garden sprinkler on the way back home from a jog. Getting drenched in a downpour. Dipping her legs and soaking in the sauna while on the phone with her friends. Indulging in long showers even when she had to rush for that early morning meeting. Her love for water lasted through the myriad of experiences that was life. Never faltering.

It was time she learned to move with it, loose herself in it. Time for those swimming lessons she'd been planning on forever.