Water
Part One of the Things I Took for Granted
Hi, I’m Sasha - I write short stories from my RV, where I live and travel full time.
Curious what else I write about? Check out this post about a sad outcome for a trash panda.
Water
The water changes as you travel.
Water. Even the wetness seems somehow different as we travel, the way it lathers soap, and the way my shampoo foams or more often, doesn’t. Different. It moves from the wetness, the very being of what water claims to be, to the taste. The way it sits on my tongue, or lolls around in the darkness of my mouth, squeezing between the spaces of my molars. I never gave credence to water how I should have, even with years of working in the plumbing industry and with hours of research on Flint, Michigan’s lead-water crisis, and Cape Town’s Day Zero.
I recognize now why people buy bottled water: a privilege I didn’t understand until I moved out of Oregon, where the water is crisp and cold no matter what part of the state you’re in. I started buying bottled jugs of water instead of drinking tap. I’ve ventured into sparkling water – something my little 2-year-old friend calls Spicy Water. I’ve never sipped Spicy Water before, but it tastes better than the milky silty drabness that is the tap water in many areas we visit.
Oregon water: Clear, like it really has melted from the mountain snow and run through a babbling brook straight to your lips. The way water always wanted to be. The water in much of the country tastes like cotton and does little to quench my thirst. Now, bottled water makes sense.
Oregon water. I miss Oregon water. Funny now, the things I took for granted.
Thanks for traveling with me. This is part one in a short series of things I took for granted before traveling.