- Joined
- Feb 9, 2004
- Messages
- 17,078
Water, God's Good Gift - June 21, 2006
Last summer everywhere we went, the weather was miserably hot. The places we visited were not very exotic: a flea market and visiting relatives in Indiana, our daughter in Chicago, an amusement park in Ohio, and finally, a mountain creek, state park, and Washington, D.C. with my sister, husband and their three oldest grandchildren.
For whatever reason, many of the days that we were out and about were days where the temperatures went well over 95 degrees Fahrenheit. And what I remember now is how water at various critical points served to revive us and keep us going.
At the amusement park, my oldest daughter was so dehydrated waiting in an hour's line in partial shade (with 110 degree temperatures in the sun) that she felt sick and we worried she was going to faint. We had long since run out of our own water supply, yet she is a rollercoaster diehard and hated to give up her place. Spying a discarded bottle of water, she splashed it over her head. The water seemed to actually soak into her skin and rehydrate her to some extent.
In Chicago, our biggest treat was finding water on sale; three cold bottles for a dollar, in a downtown drugstore, which greatly recharged our flagging bodies.
And finally, my great nieces and nephew enjoyed the sprinklers wetting the ground around the newly secured and re-landscaped Washington Monument almost more than they did ascending (by elevator) the 555 foot obelisk. It was so hot in Washington, D.C. the first week of August that even when we toured the Lincoln Memorial at 9:00 p.m., we broke out in drenching sweat.
But their favorite place of all, better than the famous sites of Washington, was probably the trip we took (two times) up a nearby creek and mountain trail. What is so great about this trail is that it leads you through the water. Or, you have to walk across a log or rock-hop to avoid getting wet; perfect for active 11- and 12-year-old kids.
Water is one of my favorite gifts from God!
Contributed by Melodie Davis: MelodieD@MennoMedia.org Melodie is the author of eight books and writes a syndicated newspaper column, Another Way
Last summer everywhere we went, the weather was miserably hot. The places we visited were not very exotic: a flea market and visiting relatives in Indiana, our daughter in Chicago, an amusement park in Ohio, and finally, a mountain creek, state park, and Washington, D.C. with my sister, husband and their three oldest grandchildren.
For whatever reason, many of the days that we were out and about were days where the temperatures went well over 95 degrees Fahrenheit. And what I remember now is how water at various critical points served to revive us and keep us going.
At the amusement park, my oldest daughter was so dehydrated waiting in an hour's line in partial shade (with 110 degree temperatures in the sun) that she felt sick and we worried she was going to faint. We had long since run out of our own water supply, yet she is a rollercoaster diehard and hated to give up her place. Spying a discarded bottle of water, she splashed it over her head. The water seemed to actually soak into her skin and rehydrate her to some extent.
In Chicago, our biggest treat was finding water on sale; three cold bottles for a dollar, in a downtown drugstore, which greatly recharged our flagging bodies.
And finally, my great nieces and nephew enjoyed the sprinklers wetting the ground around the newly secured and re-landscaped Washington Monument almost more than they did ascending (by elevator) the 555 foot obelisk. It was so hot in Washington, D.C. the first week of August that even when we toured the Lincoln Memorial at 9:00 p.m., we broke out in drenching sweat.
But their favorite place of all, better than the famous sites of Washington, was probably the trip we took (two times) up a nearby creek and mountain trail. What is so great about this trail is that it leads you through the water. Or, you have to walk across a log or rock-hop to avoid getting wet; perfect for active 11- and 12-year-old kids.
Water is one of my favorite gifts from God!
Contributed by Melodie Davis: MelodieD@MennoMedia.org Melodie is the author of eight books and writes a syndicated newspaper column, Another Way
