The Little Drop of Water
Listen to the author read the story...
This is my first book. It's a story about.... yes you've guessed it, a little drop of water and his journey downstream.
On one level it's a children's story about the little drop and his mother. On a deeper lever, it's a story about the eternal nature of life.
The seeds for the ‘Little Drop of Water’ story were sown 30 years ago when I was doing my A-levels at school. As part of my English A-level we studied the poems of Philip Larkin and there was always something that captivated me about the last four lines of a poem called ‘Whitsunday Weddings’. The poem charts a journey of noisy urban life, through to the peace of a gently meandering river that reaches the sea.
‘And past the poppies bluish neutral distance
Ends the land suddenly beyond a beach
Of shapes and shingle. Here is unfenced existence:
Facing the sun, untalkative, out of reach.’
I loved the idea of the sea being ‘unfenced existence’. Like many people, I am very drawn to the sea or any patch of water, from river to lake. There is so much peace and mystery in the sea.
In my Geography A-level I learned about the water cycle, where water evaporates from the sea, condenses into water droplets to form clouds, then rains on the mountain top and eventually ends up in the sea again. The water was always water, in a closed loop, in the same way that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed into other forms of energy.
My third and final A-level was art, where I learned that I was not talented enough to draw the illustrations for a children’s book, but I did fall in love with the process of creating! I have been writing, creating businesses and inventing products ever since.
Reviews
Beautifully written and illustrated
A delightful story for readers of all ages, beautifully written and illustrated. Highly recommended to teach important truths that can never be learned too early. Each page radiates loving energy.
Best selling Author - Suzanne Giesemann.
What a wonderful, peace evoking read to share with a child. Rob's story conveys a wisdom-filled lesson that anyone can absorb as part of their understanding of the journey of life. Filled with love and a connection to the natural order of this world. Subtle yet vital lessons!
“This book is such a great story for readers of all ages! Rob Holmes does a fantastic job of showing that we are all connected to something much larger than ourselves! A must have!” Stan – Atlanta, USA
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This is a wonderful book to read to your child. An engaging story and lovely illustrations BUT IT'S MUCH MORE THAN THAT! It's a book that you will help you explain the inexplicable when your child asks you a question and your struggle to find the answer. Even 'the little drop of water's' Mum couldn't put it into words, but this book conveys the feelings perfectly. I read it to my 3 year old grandson and he was thrilled when the characters are re-united (trying not to put a spoiler here - sorry!) He seemed to immediately understand how everything is linked - and as I had to read it three times in a row, before bed and first thing in the morning, the cyclic journey was reinforced.
Some books stay on bookshelves for generations - this is one of them. :-)
A beautiful story illustrating universal truths
A beautiful story illustrating universal truths, such as the connectivity of all things in a simple way that children will love and read over and over.
“I read The Little Drop of Water before dinner by the fire and felt such warmth and emotion at a deep level. What an amazing gift you bring Rob, having remembered who you are. I am very excited for your plans and adventures, and may the little children whose soul you touch and bless with your book’s carry on bringing that joy and remembering forward too”.
Karen – Devon, UK
The Little Drop of Water
As the dawn melted away the darkness and the sun appeared once again over the top of the mountain, the first rays of sunshine shone on the Little Drop of Water, illuminating it like a sparkling diamond.
The Little Drop of Water looked around.
It all seemed so new, so fresh.
What was this place? It was all so…. He didn’t have any words for it.
Whatever it was, it was more beautiful than words could express.
This moment seemed to last for an eternity, until he noticed another Drop of Water looking at him.
‘Who are you’, he asked?
‘I am your Mother’, said the other Drop of Water.
‘What’s a Mother?’, he enquired, with a puzzled look.
‘Someone who loves you very much’, she said with a warm smile.
‘I am not sure what love is, but it feels good.’
They just sat and looked at each other for a while.
The Little Drop of Water couldn’t really understand what he was seeing.
His eyes told him that his Mother was something separate from him, but deep down, he felt part of her.
‘This is all very confusing’, he thought to himself.
‘I hope it all makes more sense one day’.
As the day unfolded, the Little Drop of Water’s Mother taught him all sorts of interesting things.
She said he was made of something called ‘water’.
That they were sitting on something called a ‘flower’ and that the ‘flower’ was growing in something called ‘soil’, which was sitting on top of something called a ‘mountain’.
‘Amazing’ he said, ‘Do we have words for everything?
‘Yes’, said his Mother. ‘They are only words, but they help us to be able to talk to others’.
‘There are others?’ he said.
Just then it started to rain softly and more drops of water appeared.
Without really thinking about it, the Little Drop of Water and his Mother were moving gently into a small stream. None of the other drops of water seemed scared. It all seemed quite natural.
‘Mother’, he asked, ‘Where did I come from? Where was I before I appeared on that flower?
‘That question will answer itself one day. Just be patient”, she said with a smile.
By the middle of the day, the stream was getting wider and deeper and starting to flow faster. In fact it was really more of a river by now.
‘This is exciting’, said the Little Drop of Water to his Mother.
‘I know’, she replied.
‘But I do feel a little worried’ he said.
‘Worried about what?”, said his Mother.
‘Where are we going? I mean, what’s around the next bend in the river? Should I be worried?’
‘It’s natural to be worried’, she said, ‘but it’s all fine. Just go with the flow. We are all heading for the wide open sea’, she said with a twinkle in her eye.
‘The wide open sea? What on earth is that? Sounds scary. He said.
‘It’s really nothing to be scared of “ she said. “I can try to explain it in words, but it’s not that easy to describe.”
The Little Drop of Water’s Mother then talked to him about what the sea was like, about how many other drops of water were already there, about the peace in the deep of the ocean, about the waves, rising and falling, stretching out in every direction.
He tried to imagine it, but it all seemed too fantastic, too strange and yet he felt a deep longing towards the sea.
“Be patient my Dear” said his Mother. “When you reach the sea, you will know”.
As the afternoon wore on, the river began to widen and slow down. There were so many other drops of water now. Like him, most of them were wondering what was coming next.
“Little one” said his Mother, “It’s time for me now to move on and flow into the sea”.
‘You mean you are leaving me?’, said the Little Drop of Water.
‘Only for short while’ she replied, with that same knowing look in her eye that he has seen up on the top of the mountain.
‘But don’t worry, even if it looks like we are not together for a short while, we will always be together.”
And so the Little Drop of Water’s Mother faded out of view around the next bend in the river.
He felt sad, but he also trusted her. He could hear her voice, as soft as rain, saying ‘Be patient, my Dear, be patient’.
The sun then dipped down below the horizon and dusk brought a wonderful peace to the river, which was by now meandering very slowly.
The Little Drop of Water had made many friends on his journey down stream.
It had all been quite an adventure, he thought to himself.
Some of the rapids were a bit scary and he sometimes got a little churned up, but he had always been OK.
He wondered how his Mother was doing, out there in this mysterious thing called the wide open sea. But he wasn’t worried about finding her. Something told him not to worry.
‘The sea is very clever. It knows everyone and everything’, his Mother had told him. In his mind’s eye, he could see her smiling as she said it.
And so the time had come.
The river was just a few seconds away from reaching the sea.
The Little Drop of Water thought he would be scared at this moment, but actually he wasn’t scared at all.
He felt a deep, deep sense of peace.
He had not felt that amount of peace since his first moments on the top of the mountain.
That seemed like a long time ago and yet the time had gone past in a blink of the eye.
He flowed silently into the deep and peaceful sea…
At last he understood.
No wonder his Mother couldn’t explain this. There were not enough words. There were no words.
He was Home.
In that moment, he realised he had never really left Home.
He had been part of the sea all the time.
All part of something his Mother called ‘water’, which turned out to be the very essence of life itself.
The Little Drop of Water was so totally absorbed by the sea, he nearly didn’t hear his Mother’s voice at first.
‘Welcome Home Dearest one’, she said in that same wise voice he had heard all that time ago on the mountain top.
Had he dreamed the whole thing? The mountain, the flower, the little stream, the river, the rapids and the gently meandering river? Did it all really happen? It certainly seemed real at the time.
‘Do you remember you asked me where you came from and what happened before you were born? ‘ His mother asked him.
‘Yes, you said to be patient and that the answers would come’. He said, smiling. ‘I didn’t need to worry. I can see now that I was never really born, which means I can never really die, because I have always been water.’
‘Welcome Home’, she said again.
The Little Drop of Water just rested in the deep peace of the ocean.
‘I get to have more adventures, don’t I? ’ he asked.
‘Of course’ his Mother replied, with a glint in her eye and a warm, wide smile on her face.
Copyright © 2021 By Rob Holmes
Illustrations by Beidi Guo www.guobetty.com