This doesn't seem to be the traditional way to start a blog, but I'm going to share a short story.
This was it. My every molecule was vibrating with excitement. From the moment I was created, this exact instance was all I could think about. I had seen countless others embark on this voyage, and my anticipation grew with each and every departure. My place in line was near the end; this was the cruel irony of my intense desire. My unfair placement in line was a blessing in disguise, really, as it gave me time to reflect on my progression towards maturity and readiness for my destiny.
I thought back to the Beginning. At least, what I could remember of it. They always said that once I had taken the Journey, it would all come rushing back. All I could remember then was the emotion of pure energy and the frantic feeling of needing to create, to become. Anything other than the emotions were lost to me. I believed them when they said it would all come back.
The line moved forward, and I was about three-fourths of the way there. My excitement grew inside me exponentially with each rhythmic, forward motion. I was nearing my goal. This is what I had been waiting for. What I had worked so hard my whole life to accomplish.
"Nothing we can say will prepare you for what you are to experience,' I remembered they once told me. "How am I to ready myself if all you do is brush away my questions?" I had asked crossly. They would merely laugh wisely and say, "In time, child, in time." Of course, their mysteriousness only piqued my curiosity and excitement more. As I grew and matured, formed and flourished, bonded and split, more and more was revealed to me about my upcoming trek. Some of the details frightened me, but I was always intrigued by the rumors of exuberance and freedom unrivaled by any other event. I could feel the truth of these whisperings heavy on my being, and it only catapulted my excitement further.
As I neared the middle of the line, my feelings turned from excitement to worry. I began to feel unstable. I quivered to my core. To quell the oncoming panic, I tried to think back again and let the memories soothe my worried mind. I thought of the first time I watched the Journey undertaken. I looked on in awe as I watched them disappear. I was told as I wandered away from the site that I would see them again. If not in this life, then the next. Or even the next. Being relatively newly created,this didn't mean much to me at the time. I shrugged it off.
I was near the front of the line now, and could make out the silhouettes of my friends far below. This last memory, though useless to me then, now gave me the strength and resolve I needed to continue, and rekindled the excitement that I needed to pursue my destiny. Ten were ahead of me. My mind was racing with imagined possibilities. Nine were ahead of me. I was more ready for this moment than ever. Five went together, and then there were only four. I was quivering. Three. It was almost my turn. Two. I was bursting with excitement. One. Now!
The wind whispered a loving goodbye to me as I fell, and at first, I was shocked. I looked up to see the cloud that I had called home for so long grow farther and farther away. It was then that I realized what they had meant when they said that the Journey couldn't be described by words. It was only emotion. Energy. Power. I was the only thing that existed, and only I mattered. I felt such a powerful sense of joy and happiness to be falling toward my destiny. To become one with Earth. To perpetuate her life. To join the ones before me.
As I screamed through the sky towards the Earth and her lush, green brilliance, I tingled with anticipation for the impact. Throughout my entire existence, I was always told that the feeling of the contact with the earth was the best part of the Journey. I felt it. I longed for her embrace. I was near the surface now, and close to my point of impact; the petal of a single flower over a puddle. It was the perfect shade of blue, and it reminded me of the sky. I saw that many others already adorned it, and I wanted so badly to be a part of them. I fell closer. I was right above the place where I would land, and time seemed to drag on for an eternity. They reached out to me, ready to embrace me as one of them once more.
When I finally made contact, feelings of ecstasy and euphoria overwhelmed me. I was stunned by the power of contact, unable to move. But as I joined into the collective consciousness of the tiny gathering of water, everything calmed, and everything was right. My weight, however, was the last push the petal needed to tip, spilling us into the puddle below. We were greeted warmly by the others, and my existence spread out among the atoms of the others, where I came to rest.
Shortly after what I thought was the end of my Journey, I felt something warm pass through us. It was the Sun, with his golden rays of light, heating our small puddle. We were all anxious, but we realized what was happening. We were being evaporated slowly, one by one, to return to the sky to form our own cloud, begin our next life, and be created anew.
