I was in a coffee shop this morning. The radical shop owner was talking to her cool barista about gratitude. I clung to her words like a fly on the wall. I could have interjected but it was not my place.

The rad owner was saying she didn't get enough sleep, but was trying to think of things she was grateful for. When people talk publicly about gratitude, that is the kindest, most important thing they can do. You enter a space hoping to see the friendliest person in the world, but you get the rad owner, and that becomes a point of gratitude. Her trying to remind herself to do what is so beneficial for all of us, maybe did not serve the direct purpose she intended, but the ripples were felt.

I have been walking around wanting to do the same, and also I am sleepy. I wake early because I am so excited for life I can barely stand it. Those are the facts. So there are reasons to be grateful abounding. Often the simplest ones are the most important ones.

So today, I am grateful for water. That most prolific element where I feel most at home. That cup on my bookshelf that washes down the meds and crumbs. The water in each of us that has emotional impact beyond our wildest dreams. The water of periods and menstruation. The water breaking with childbirth. The water of flowing rain.

I am grateful today for the most basic element in life. The one drop that harkens life to roots. Let me honor the most essential thing, authentically and hopefully, knowing how precious it must be treated, how hard it is to purify unclean drinking water.

Outside my window the leaves stretch sunward, one inch a day. The robins ask me to plant peas so they can dig them first. The peas ask for water. The peas are smart.

The peas don't need to create deities to control their neighbors. But they are nevertheless asking for something to drink. Dust in spring is the awfullest thing.

Today is May Day, and a time for sharing and giving. I appreciate the source, liquid gold. We live in a time when warring over water is not far. So I return again to the mason jar Emily poured for me. She did not force me to purchase water. The water was free, and the conversation I ease-dropped on gratitude.