I AM

Stop in for a visit these days and you never know what will be on the menu. 

The barebones equaation that powers all life on this little blue ball. Six molecules of carbon dioxide plus six molecules of water. Add the light energy from a star. In our case the sun. The sun's energy is stored in one molocule of sugar and six molecules of oxygen. It's been a long time since i took biology or chemistry. One section on organic chemisry chemistry more than half a century ago does not make an expert and I was in no position to appreciate the beauty of the process anyway. I was too busy just trying to wade through.

Now carbon dioxide and water existed on earth long before photosyntesis and the byproduct. Oxygen. 

Anyway I wrote a version of this little meditation several years ago. To be honest I am works better for me now than I was.

I am the sun, warm rays piercing the clouds to the sea

I am the sea, mists rising to join the clouds.

I am the clouds riding the winds to rise above the coast range.

I aam the mountain, heavy mists drifting across the cliffs.

I am the cliffs, wind carved trees clinging to the crags and bluffs.

I am the trees, leaves catching the fogs; releasing moisture into the earth below.

I ams the mist, caught in the moss and last year’s leaves.

I am the moss, trapping the rainbow drops, releasing them into the soil

I am the soil, water full, drops working down, down the foundations of the mountain.

I am the bedrock, water following the cracks, pooling, feeding the deep springs.

I am the deep springs feeding the pools under the trees.

I am the pools, home to little streams bubbling over the rocks fallen from the cliffs.

I am the little streams, rushing to join the great river as it rushes to the salt marshes.

I am the salt marsh, feeding my water back into the sea.

I am the sea, sun warmed, giving up the mists to the sky."

Not too bad for an amateur. But as I reread this I was struck by time. Somewhere around ten to twelve billion years ago this universe was created. Current theories revolve around the Big Bang. Literally almost all the hydrogen, helium and some lithium in the beginning  was created in that whatever hapened, happened. All the rest of the elements that make up the rest of the universe were cooked in stars. 

Some shed as stars like the sun become red giants and shed rings of gas. Others, the heaier elements like carbon, oxygen and iron are created when the blue white giants die in the cataclysms of novas and supernovas. The lives of stars like the sun are measured in billions of years. The lives of the giant blue white stars can be measured in millions of years. generation after generation cooking the elements needed to build a world and shedding them into space.

Hydrogen. One proton, one electron. Needs an additional electron for stability. Carbon. Six protons four electrons. Needs four more to fill the next shell. Oxygen. Eight protons, six electrons. Needs two more electrons to fill that outer shell. It's almost as if those three  were made for each other. At least under the conditions found on earth.

The atoms in the water that rises to the clouds, falls as rain, trickles deep into the rocks or runs off in a million streams are millions if not billions of years old. That water may have misted the first green to colonize the land. That water may have supported an ammonite or an ancient shark. Sheltered the early crocodiles or refreashed a dinosaur. Perhaps provided a bath for the first birds. Rained on the first flowers. 

The atoms in the carbon dioxide that provides the building blocks for the sugars that power the mosses and the trees are also millions if not billions of years old. Some of that carbon dioxide remained in the atmosphere. A green house gas that kept this planet from freezing over. At least most of the time. 

When I exhale some of those hydrogen atoms may have been born in the biggest bang no one was here to see. Physically anyway. The search for who OR what has also been the oldest puzzle. Each one of us has a few of the pieces. No one has them all and anyone who claims otherwise? Probably hasn't been paying attention. 

As I reread that little piece I was struck for the first time by time. Water in whatever form is made of atoms millions to billions of years old. Perhaps even part of other worlds. The universe is a great recycler. And you might end up feeling a little humbled and maybe a little more willing to treat that precious water and what it helps to stay alive with the respect given to any elder.