Puddle-Power

I’ve always been a puddle person ~ drawn to them as a small child and drawn to them even more as a big child.

Interestingly, the Irish word for puddle is locháinín which certainly hints at ‘small lake.’

As a child, I loved the ‘boldness’ involved in getting my shoes wet. This was a source of ENORMOUS tension between my parents. Mother didn’t give a damn and always seemed to be able to produce spare pairs out of nowhere or advocate the tearing off of shoes and socks in all weathers so that we could feel the ground beneath our feet. Father, on, the other hand, had a thing about both bare feet and wet feet and I mean a major thing!

I think I truly came to puddles and wetness on bare soles as a result of interviewing a man who had been completely paralysed in an accident. He spoke of how he longed to be able to walk on wet grass and feel the splash of puddles.

What draws me to puddles now are the reflections and wonderment at how they can appear so deep when they are so shallow:

Dreaming in a Puddle

I’m certainly not alone in having ‘puddlitis’ and here are some of my favourite quotes:

If you can train your senses to perceive the movement of the minute hand of a clock, what is to stop you from training them to ‘slow down’ when you look at a tree or a puddle? (Colin Wilson)

Never let the mud puddle get lost in the poetry because, in many ways, the mud puddle is the poetry. (Valerie Worth).

Some people could look at a mud puddle and see an ocean with ships. (Zora Neale Hurston)

Although its light is wide and great, the Moon is reflected in a puddle one inch wide. The whole Moon and the entire sky is reflected in one dew drop on the grass. (Dogen)

The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful. (E.E.Cummings)

Let the children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining; let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water; and when the grass of the meadows is wet with dew, let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet; let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath its shade; let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning. (Maria Montessori)

I think I’ll tear out now and splash around in as many puddles as I can find. Why don’t you join me?