H2O (or: this is water)

the weather jumped from frost to thaw. the snow is melting, the rivers are rising. it's a liquid world outside. which fits with the new issue of 52/250: floating away.

the story i have in it is "H2O". it's one i really like, and on the shorter side, so i include it here:

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H2O

She clears the snow, once more. Her shoes are drained already, her arms are tired. The snow keeps falling since days. She tries to see it as just what it is: a structure of H2O. Strings of molecules, the base of life.

“The rain that falls, the water we drink, it’s the same water that was home to the first fish, that quenched the thirst of the first mammals,” a scientist explained on TV.

She imagines them, all those drops of water that keep moving through time, in different states of being, once being a river, once a cup of coffee, once being used for the laundry, and then falling again, as rain, as snow. The circular thought brings on images of the streets of laundry she has ironed in her life, of the armies of dishes she has washed, of all those days she has woken up to, to fall asleep again at their end.

She keeps clearing the snow, and can’t help it: her thoughts are with Sisyphus now, and she tries to see him, again, as a happy person.
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the line about Siysphus as a happy person is a Camus quote - i still remember when i heard it first, during a philosophical evening at the library, and thanks to Wiki, here's the sum of it:
"Camus presents Sisyphus's ceaseless and pointless toil as a metaphor for modern lives spent working at futile jobs in factories and offices.. and claims that when Sisyphus acknowledges the futility of his task and the certainty of his fate, he is freed to realize the absurdity of his situation and to reach a state of contented acceptance. With a nod to the similarly cursed Greek hero Oedipus, Camus concludes that "all is well," indeed, that "One must imagine Sisyphus happy." (The Myth of Sisyphus)

i started to read the floating away issue, here links to stories that i especially enjoyed:

• Dream Boats by Elizabeth Kate Switaj (which also connects to the human condition),
• To Keep a Hold on California in Crisis by Susan Gibb (the drama of this world & human logic, wrapped in a flash - this also connects to the post underneath).
• Settle by Len Kuntz (a story on death + life)

+ another 'water' text, i returned to it on new year's day: a commencement address by David Foster Wallace. it's a special text, on life, the capital-T Truth, the real value of education, and awareness. it's one of the best essays i know. it’s online here: This is Water - David Foster Wallace in his own words.