💧 The Water Loop Interview II
Spring — The Splashy Baby of The Family
Location:
Time:
Note from Ocean:
“Pip… Spring is a baby. Playful. Very playful. Proceed… damply.”
PIP — Note to Self:
Water-resistant coat: ✔
Waterproof notebook: ✔
Snacks: ✔ (I really hope this bubbly little Spring likes cheese… and doesn’t steal all of it.)
PIP: I’m here… I wonder where Spring is?
Oh. Of Course You’re Here. And I Am Wet.
Now that I’m completely soaked… I brought you a snack.
It’s CHEESE!
Spring:
Cheese?
Oh! Okay! I’ll save it for my favorite little wren.
Wrens love surprises.
🐭❓ Q1 — So… how do you feel about being the baby of the family?
and then — pop! — there I am.
A drip. A bubble. A tiny push of water finding its first way out.”
“Baby? Oh yes! I’m the littlest.
I start as drips, droplets, melts, bubbles, squeezes, tiny trickles…
But every river begins with me.
I get to choose the first path the water takes.
So even if I’m small, I’m important!”
“I’m the littlest of the water family…
but also the surprise.
Earth’s surprise gift!”
“So yes, I may be small…
but I’m the beginning of everything water will become.”
Then mosses, ferns, and tiny flowers gather around me like,
‘Oh! A spring! Freshwater!’”
Spring:
“Oh! Easy! I show up when water finds a tiny path it just has to follow.
Do you want the long version too?”
PIP:
(nods enthusiastically)
Spring:
“Okay! The long version!
Deep underground, rainwater and melted snow slip into cracks, roots, and teeny spaces between soil grains. They gather, trickle, and squeeze — like we’re all trying to fit through the smallest door in the world.”
🐭❓ Q2 — So… how do you actually appear? I mean… what makes a spring happen?
“Sometimes we rise from an aquifer that’s so full it needs to stretch.
Sometimes we push through rock fractures.
Sometimes we seep through mountain soil where sunlight finally reaches us.”
pop!
That’s me — a spring!
Small, fresh, and ready to start moving.”
Always ask Spring for the long version.
It’s good for you.
(Ha ha! Rory will be stuck
listening to Spring forever —
and won’t have time
to chase me!)
🐭❓ Q3 — Okay… so once you appear, what happens next? Where do you go?
Spring (short version):
“Oh! I start moving!
Even if I’m tiny, I can’t stay still.
Downhill calls me like… like a slide!”
Spring (long version):
“Once I appear, I start looking for friends — other drips, bubbles, melts, little flows hiding under leaves or sliding between pebbles. We find each other quickly. Water always does.”
and we wiggle and swirl until we carve our very first path.
Tiny channels form in soil and moss.
That’s how I become a trickle… and then a baby stream.
Every turn I make depends on Earth — her shape,
her rocks, her roots, the way the mountain leans.
Spring (short version):
“Oh! The next Big Thing?
Yes! I join it!
I grow until I can’t be called ‘Spring’ anymore.”
Spring (long version):
“I start tiny — just drips and wiggles — but I’m never meant to stay small.
As I gather more friends (other drops, melts, trickles), we get louder, brighter, and faster. That’s when Earth gently nudges me along the slope. Soon my tiny paths join other tiny paths.”
🐭❓ Q4 — So… do you… I mean… become the next Big Thing? Or join the next Big Thing?
“Little grooves become channels.
Channels become a real flow.
When I reach that point —
when I’m steady and strong enough to keep going,
without disappearing —
that’s when Stream arrives.”
I don’t become Stream… we join together.
Spring + Spring + Spring + more Spring = Stream!”
“And once Stream takes over, ohhh it gets exciting.
More speed. More direction. More purpose.
It’s like growing into your first superpower.”
🐭❓ Q5 — Are you by any chance related to… groundwater?
Like… is that your grandmother or something?**
Spring (short version):
“Oh! Groundwater?
That’s more like… my whole family underground!
But grandmother works too.”
Spring (long version):
“Groundwater is where a lot of me begins!
When rain and snow melt, they seep into the ground.
They fill tiny spaces between rocks, soil, sand, and roots.
All that quiet hidden water gathers and waits deep below.
Sometimes the earth tilts just right.
Sometimes there’s a crack in rock
or a soft patch in soil.
And that’s when groundwater gently nudges me upward.
So yes… we’re definitely related!
Groundwater is the deep, patient part of the family.
Always supporting. Always holding.
Always sending someone like me to the surface when the time is right
Without groundwater, I wouldn’t be here.
She’s the ancient one — the keeper of calm, the steady memory beneath everything.”
Note to self:
Okay… not grandmother.
Maybe she’s the Matriarch’s
representative?
Na! Everyone is a representative
of our oh-so-generous Matriarch!
LOL
🐭❓ Q6 — Can I ask your relationship with Rain and Snow?
🐭❓ Since… well… they sort of help you appear?
Spring (short version):
“Oh yes! Rain wakes me up…
and Snow tucks me in.
They’re like my sky-parents!”
Spring (long version):
“Rain is the excited one — always falling, splashing, laughing, running everywhere.
Rain soaks into the ground, fills the soil, feeds the aquifers, slides past roots, and says,
‘Wake up, Spring! Time to go!’”
Snow is gentle and quiet and patient.
Snow sits on the mountain and
slowly melts, drop by drop, into the soil.
Every melt-drop helps groundwater grow strong…
until one day, there’s enough for me to rise.”
and Snow gives me calm.
Rain is fast and loud,
Snow is soft and slow.”
“And when the two of them work together — that’s when I’m born.”
Pip’s Note to Self
Note to self:
Rain is the alarm clock.
Snow is the blanket.
Together they make Spring!
(Also… must ask Rory
if cats prefer rain
or snow. For science!)
Spring (short version):
“Oh! River?
River is the Big Grown-Up!”
(eyes sparkle in tiny watery excitement)
Spring (long version):
“River is what happens when many Springs and Streams join together.
River carries strength, shape, stories, and direction.
River knows where to go.”
“When I’m small, I wander and wiggle and splash around.
But River flows with purpose.
River has a bank, a path, a voice.
River makes valleys, feeds forests, welcomes fish, and connects whole places together.”
🐭❓ Q7 — And River… what’s River to you?
“Sometimes I hear River long before I meet River —
a distant rush, a steady rhythm.
It’s like hearing the heartbeat of the land.
“And when I finally join River, it feels like growing up.
Like becoming part of something bigger and wiser.”
“River is the leader who listens to Earth’s shape.
I’m just the beginning…
River is the journey.”
“And River always gives me the usual lecture:
‘Welcome to postwater — it’s bumpy but fun,
and we have the best gossip!’”
Note to self:
River “Postwater” = Respect
(from Spring).
Pip “Reporter” = Respect
(from Rory!).
LOL
🐭❓ Q8 — Do you ever dream of lakes?
Spring (short version):
“Oh yes! Lakes are like…
giant nap spots for water!”
Spring (long version):
“Lakes are calm and deep and thoughtful.
They don’t rush like River or splash like Rain.
They hold stories.
Thousands of them.”
“When I reach a lake, I suddenly slow down.
All the tiny particles I carry settle gently to the bottom.
Plants float. Fish glide. Birds stop for a drink.
It’s peaceful — a water rest stop.”
“Lakes also help shape me.
They let me pause and gather strength,
filter through reeds and roots,
and then flow out again, clearer than before.”
“I’m small now, but one day I may find myself drifting into a lake…
and when I do, it’ll feel like resting inside Earth’s quiet breath.”
(Then Spring tries to demonstrate “being calm like a lake”…
but accidentally splashes upward instead.)
🐭❓ Q9 — And what about the Sea?
Spring (short version):
“Oh! The Sea?
It’s both!
A giant salty party… with rules.”
Spring (long version):
“The Sea is where freshwater and saltwater meet.
It’s busy and bright and full of life — crabs, shells, seaweed forests, tiny fish that sparkle, big fish that zoom, and currents that dance in every direction.”
“And the stories!
Humans have been visiting the Sea forever.
Fishermen casting nets at dawn.
Pirates in the old days shouting across wooden decks.
Grand ships crossing from one land to another.
And now cruises with music and laughter and dancing under the sky.”
“When I reach the Sea, I don’t stay myself for long.
Freshwater blends into saltwater, slowly and gently.
It’s like joining a huge festival where everyone is different,
but somehow it still feels welcoming.”
“The place where I enter — the estuary — is special.
It’s the mixing zone.
Not too salty, not too fresh.
A perfect meeting space.”
“But yes… the Sea is loud.
And salty.
Very salty.
If I splash upward there, I come down with a funny taste.”
“So I’m excited…
and a tiny bit scared.
But that’s okay.
The Sea is part of the journey too.”
🐭❓ Q10 — I don’t suppose you go anywhere near Glacier?
Spring (short version):
“Oh no! Glacier is HUGE and cold and slow.
Very, VERY slow.”
Spring (long version):
“Glacier is like one of Earth’s ancient guardians.
Massive, frozen rivers of time.
They move so slowly that even rocks forget they’re moving.”
“I don’t get close to Glacier myself — I’m too tiny and too wiggly.
But I do meet Glacier’s melted pieces!
When sunlight warms the glacier edges, meltwater drips down the mountain.
Those drips sneak into soil, cracks, and roots…
and some of them become me.”
“So Glacier and I are connected through meltwater.
Glacier sends little gifts down the mountain,
and eventually those gifts help form Springs.”
“Glacier speaks in deep, deep time.
Snow becomes ice,
ice becomes layers,
layers become stories
pressed over centuries.”
“I’m the quick one —
Glacier is the patient one.”
🐭❓ Q11 — So… do you ever meet the mighty Ocean by any chance?
🐭❓ What is it like?
Spring (short version):
“Oh! Ocean?
That’s the BIG ONE.
The everything-one.”
Spring (long version):
“Ocean is vast.
So vast that even mountains look small next to it.
Everything eventually meets Ocean — rains, rivers, lakes, streams, even tiny Springs like me.”
“But by the time I get there…
I’m not exactly me anymore.”
“I’ve mixed with friends — other Springs, Streams, Rivers —
and I’ve blended with Sea water through the estuary.
Freshwater turns a little salty…
then a little more salty…
until it becomes part of the Sea itself.”
“So when I reach Ocean,
I arrive as part of something bigger:
part of currents, tides, drifts, and swirls
that travel across the planet.”
“Ocean is the keeper of Earth’s memory.
Every drop that ever existed has visited Ocean at least once.
It knows sky stories, mountain stories, river stories, glacier stories…
and yes, even human stories.”
“When Ocean speaks,
its voice is slow and deep and steady —
like listening to the heart of the planet.”
“I may start tiny,
but once I join Ocean,
I help move the whole world.”
🐭❓ Q— Well… I’m kind of new like you, so… is there anything I didn’t ask?
Spring (short version):
“Oh yes!
There’s always more with water.”
Spring (long version):
“Since you asked—
yes, there are a few more places I might go!”
“Sometimes I end up in a terminal lake —
a lake with no river leaving it
(like the Great Salt Lake or the Dead Sea).
There, I can’t reach the Sea or the Ocean at all.
I only leave by evaporation,
floating up to join Clouds.”
“Other times I evaporate early —
from soil or rocks or sunlight —
and go straight into the sky
before I ever reach a River.”
“And sometimes…
I sneak back underground!
I seep into soil and sand
and rejoin the aquifer I came from.
It’s like stopping by family for a surprise visit.”
“So yes — I have many journeys. More than one way to complete the loop.”
🐭❓ Q9 — A message for humans?
Spring:
“Are you sure you want the long version of this one too?”
PIP:
“NO! No no no —
short version is perfect!
I… I can see I’ve already taken too much of your time!”
(Spring pats PIP gently with a tiny droplet,
as if saying,
“Good job for choosing the short version.”)
Spring:
“Okay, short version…
Just take care of the places where I appear.”
“Keep the soil soft,
keep the ground clean,
let rain and snow reach the earth,
and try not to hurt the quiet places
where water hides and gathers.”
“If you protect the small beginnings,
I’ll keep popping up
with fresh surprises.”
Pip’s Note to Self:
Water Loop is a family:
- Ocean, the deep grouchy elder
- Sea, the sparkly dramatic cousin
- River, the Postwater courier ✔
- Lake, the Zen Romantic
- Glacier, the keeper of evidence
- Rain, the dramatic visitor
- Spring, the baby of the family✔
Spring just became one, so I should probably go see what happens next.
River says Streams are "the in-between ones - not babies anymore, not grown-ups yet."
I should probably bring waterproof everything.
Note to self:
When asking water loops for explanations…
always settle for
the middle version.
Not too short.
Not too long.
Reporter tip:
Middle version
is the way to go!
