For the love of water . . .

Water, is the very essence of life, in some form, for all living things on the planet. It can be soothing, cleansing and quenching. In fact, you can even lead a horse to it.

Now, hold that thought . . .

Sometimes things just happen, circumstances beyond our control that put us in places, push us out of our comfort zones, that force us to grow, or not. Sometimes whether we like it, or not.

Now, although I love adventures and spontaneous exploration, I am not however one that likes a lot of change. So when our family moved five hours south of our home in the Dallas area, to the gulf coast and a very large body of water 25 miles north of Galveston, well you could say that it was met with a little resistance. Or maybe, a lot!

{Sunrise, Galveston Bay}

The day we moved in we were met with the beginnings of a tropical storm coming through and just a mere five weeks later we were packing to leave in a mandatory evacuation for Hurricane Ike. It wasn't exactly the welcome party one hopes for and it was my worst fear of moving here realized. The next three months would prove to be difficult for me in the department of settling in.

{A tiny fish, caught in my little blue net and photographed through a glass container}

But it will be four years ago this August and things have changed, drastically. Slowly, the water began to soothe and ease my pain of moving. It has a unique ability to cleanse some of those stresses of everyday life and now quenches my thirst for adventure.

Yes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. He has to want it for himself, he has to need it first. You see it was in moving here that I discovered my passion for photography and where I could combine it with my love of nature. It is now that same large body of water that breathes life into my soul and for the love of that water, why I don't ever want to leave. You can find me on my personal blog, Picking Poppies, musing often on the beach, the ocean and on seaweed!

Come share your images of water with us in our Flickr page. Go out and capture your favorite form of water, tell us what you love about it and don't forget to label it "Water". You just might be our next INFOCUS selection of the week. Enjoy your day.