26/365- No Blue, No Green

Digital Painting by Tracey Grumbach

"No water, no life. No blue, no green." -Sylvia Earle

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As I sit at the resort pool in Scottsdale, Arizona, three hours behind east coast time, I contemplate water. I am not sure if it is because there is a vast pool of crystal clear swimming water in front of me or if it is because there is a stark contrast to my current view and the surrounding arid desert of Arizona. Water. I realize in this moment how I have taken for granted this precious resource, growing up and living my entire life in Maryland where I am surrounded by this amazing mix of hydrogen and oxygen. I even have a natural spring, a stream, and a very mini waterfall on my property.

But here in the middle of the dry desert where no grass grows and very few shrubs and trees grow, water is a completely different story. Flying over in the plane yesterday, thousands of feet above our earth, I didn't see a single speck of water. Not one. For miles and miles and miles. It is so scarce here that the pilot saw it necessary to come on the intercom and point out Roosevelt Lake as we flew over. And this lake was manmade back in 1911 when workers dammed the Salt River. It's not even natural.

The irony that I am posting a digital painting of a plant that only grows in water and mud while I am sitting in the middle of a desert does not go unnoticed by me. But isn't life all about contrasts and differences and the beauty we can find in them? Today's quote has such a strong undercurrent of meaning in today's world, I think. No blue, no green. No green, no humans. We are all interconnected and interdependent on each other. Not only our human race but the earth on its full scale. Such a delicate balance we must make as not to upset the precarious harmony of our system. I can't help think of all the rhetoric surrounding the NFL anthem kneeling mess. It seems sometimes that our world is on the brink of spinning off this balance, off the axis that keeps us all grounded here. It frightens me sometimes. And then I remember to have faith.

I know this is a late post today, but give a girl a break...I'm posting from three hours behind :)  Have a wonderful Monday. I'm thinking about everyone back at home as I lift my face to the sun and soak in the rays, thankful that our earth is still spinning, still balancing, still as amazing and beautiful as ever.

xo