My passion has always, always, been water. The ocean has always been both terrifying and peaceful. What I would give to ply its waters for all of time. I chose to write about it for my passion project, because the ocean and the rivers of the world have always been my future to travel through and on. I am passionate about it for quite a few reasons. One of them is that when I see water in a river or when I stand on a beach looking out over the aqua blue waters as the wind sweeps its surface, creating spray that soaks the rocks on the shore, I think to myself, “That is where I belong, not here on solid ground that could trip me in an instant.” Of course, if I was out there in the blue, cold ocean then it could kill me just as quickly, by a large wave or a hidden rock.

Photo of dad by the river

When I took this photo, I felt as though my body was filling up with happiness. It felt as though I were a bottle of water, with a faucet above me spilling water into my empty body. Every time I look at it, I feel the same - but I can never get that last inch full.

The reason this photo is even on the radar for my passion project is that it has four of the five things I live for. One is my father, always there to help me when I am going through rough times, always understanding me and not judging me. The second is the sky. Without the sky how would I sail, eh? The sky brings wind and rain. The third is the jungle, its dangers and evils healthily balanced by the life and medicine. I’m not sure how many of my readers know this already, but most of the medicines for many of the terrible sicknesses that plague our world to this day are treated with things from the jungle. Extracts from fruits and plants and the like. The last, but by far not the least, is the water. Without the water, how would I sail, eh?  Here, trickling down the flank of one side of the rock and cascading off the other, it pounds its way through the land, leaving its mark forever.

Gabriel Miller is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program

Photo courtesy and copyright Gabriel Miller