Water has been part of my life for longer than I can remember. From the rocky coasts of North America … Nova Scotia, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and along the eastern seaboard, into the Carribean.

As I experienced these locations, these boundaries of land and sea, I found strength on their shores, testing the fact that I did not have gills and trusting my ability to hold my breath as I ventured into the waters.

As I witness the most active volcano in the world on the Big Island of Hawaii (Kilauea), I can only imagine the feelings each of the residents of this region are going through as the place they call home, dissolves into the ocean.

And I realize that this loss is just one of many for our species, the ones who tempt the boundaries of land and sea.

And I realize that nothing is permanent … not even rocks-

The ones we can walk on-

The ones we can skip along the salty shores-

… and the ones we love…

who do not have gills after all,

but wished they did.

❤