Sky Becomes Sea Becomes Sky

Imagine a single drop of water, bursting from the depths of the earth into the sun for the first time, ever. The only life it has ever known was deep in the underground aquifers of the planet, and now it is pierced by light.

At first it believes it is dying but time proves that its existence persists. It begins to grow accustomed to the brightness, and begins notice the rocks as it tumbles over them. How beautifully they sparkle! While in the dark world, they were just dull and drab. There are fish, water skaters, periwinkles, life all around! Lush shrubs and towering trees line the banks, the scent of wild roses fills the air. The droplets sing in a chorus of rauous chatter as they roll along. Rivulets join to form creeks, creeks become rivers and together the multitude of droplets make their way to the sea.

As the volume grows, the water sounds change. Once the drops become the sea, they no longer babble like a brook. The song is more like the chanting of monks now, rhythmic and serene. The droplets have learned the lessons of the waters of earth, they are preparing to be lifted to the skies to begin a new cycle of existence.

Our little droplet sparkles and splashes on the foamy sea. It has grown fond of the light and warmth, and the droplet knows the sun provides it with an inner sparkle. Rocking gently on the waves, the warmth spreads. The inner sparkle being to shine brightly, much stronger than ever before, and so much warmer! At some point the drop realizes its bonds are releasing, it is losing its drop form. It feels itself rising, elevating, floating into the Heavens... where it finds old friends and family waiting to greet it in the clouds!

A wonderful time is passed. This new formless existence is exhilarating! Effortlessly our droplet shifts from a wispy frill of cloud to a large marshmallow puff in the sky! The warmth and light of the sun are so much closer, the stars are even brighter! Friends and family in the rivers and seas below are watched over from above. It is paradise. Droplet begins to hear tales of "rainclouds" and wonders, "Why would any droplet ever return to drop form?!"

One day droplet was being a dark, heavy cloud. The cloud was so low it was caught by a mountain top. As droplet hung like part of an ethereal crown upon the mountain, a long forgotten sound was heard below; the sound of water gurgling out of a spring and running through the mossy rocks to form a rivulet, giggling with delight at the experience of being water. Memories of the joy of having form flooded in and made droplet's heart a little heavy. In the same instant that droplet understood why some family and friends had turned to rain, it was falling to earth.

A little sub-story here about my top illustration. I painted this in 6th grade art class, I knew what I was trying to paint, but they made me do it with PAINT and I am not a painter! I have kept it all these years because I always saw what I tried to paint. Now I tried to paint it with words, which I wield much more effectively than a paint brush. It DEEPLY amuses my inner child to use this for an illustration on steemit where I will upvote it myself if I must so I can make even a penny on it, because I got a C on it. I thought it was genius, but the art teacher was looking for art. Who knew?!

All photos are my own, most were taken with a Fuji FinePix S8300. If you are curious about locale, ask in the comments!
Photo of my painting taken with my cell phone because my computer is whisking photos off my new little camera into some hard drive nether world that I cannot navigate tonight... but "high quality photography" would not necessarily be this art piece's friend... 😊

This is my entry into this challenge:
https://steemit.com/svq/@cabelindsay/steemit-vision-quest-week-1-sky-meets-sea
Please join in if the spirit so moves you!