A drop in the Ocean

I woke up early

The ship was rocking gently

Light was peeking through the curtains

We had left Miami two days earlier and made a half day stop in the Bahamas

I checked our current position

Bermuda was our next destination but still around 500 miles away

I drank a small glass of water

Conscious of this precious commodity

Hydration promoted a call of nature

The toilet flush consumed maybe 2 gallons if water

I cleaned my teeth but brazenly left the water running

I probably wasted 4 gallons of water

I tried to wash off my water wasting guilt with a quick shower

My thoughts wandered as the hot stream flowed over me

My lingering shower probably wasted another 20 gallons of water

I still felt guilty about the 26 gallons I had used before breakfast

The bathrobe felt good but I wondered how many gallons had gone into it’s making and all the regularly laundering

I stepped out onto the balcony

Clear blue skies and calm seas on the Atlantic Ocean

Nothing to be seen but sky and water

Its going to be a long way to Lisbon

Crossing an ocean that covers 20% of the earth’s surface

That is more than 30 million square miles

Suddenly the world seems less crowded

I am floating in an ocean that contains 100 Million Billion Gallons of water

Lets assume that all this water was divided equally among everybody living in the United States

Each person would have more than 100,000 Million gallons of their own

My pre breakfast ablutions were just a drop in the ocean

I looked at the map again

We were bang in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle

I wondered if I was to be swallowed up by the water conservation gods and never seen again?