You Can Lead A Horse To Water
St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States. Located on the northeast coast of Florida, it is a quaint town full of charming old Spanish architecture and beautiful beaches. This year, the city will receive visitors from around the world because 2015 marks the 450th anniversary of the founding of St. Augustine. Many visitors will enjoy taking a horse and carriage ride through the narrow cobblestone streets of the old Spanish quarter.
My family moved to St. Augustine when I was eight years old. I can still remember the first time we stood on the sidewalk waiting for the next horse and carriage to become available. The horses would come up, hot and tired from the previous ride, and the driver would let them drink from a big trough. I was amazed at how much water those horses could drink. One of the drivers told me that a horse can drink a whole gallon of water at one time. I remember wishing that I could do that. I think it would be very nice to be able to drink a lot of water all at once, and then not have to think about it again for quite some time, just as those horses are able to do.
Humans are not like horses though. The experts tell us that we need to drink at least eight (eight ounce) glasses of water a day. Most of the time I find this to be quite a challenge. I don’t like having to stop whatever I am doing to drink all that water, and I don’t like having to jump up every fifteen minutes or so to get rid of it either. It is a real nuisance! I have tried many different strategies for getting in my eights. I’ve even tried doing it the way St. Augustine’s horses do, but of course it doesn’t work as well for me as it works for them.
After much experimenting, I have finally settled on a strategy that works for me. I start by drinking a 16 ounce glass of water when I wake in the morning, before I do anything else. This gets two of my eights out of the way. After I get the family out the door for the day, I go on my two mile walk and have another 16 ounces of H2O when I return. Now I have half of my eights done, and it isn’t even lunch time yet. My morning is now free to do the things I need to do without having to think about those eights. At lunchtime, I drink another 16 ounces of water. It's pretty painless, and I’m free for the afternoon. With supper, I drink my final 16 ounces of water, and my eights are done for the day!
It isn’t quite as easy as those St. Augustine carriage horses drinking their gallon buckets of water all at once, but it works for me and perhaps it will help you drink your own eights! Oh! One more thing; I was so busy drinking my eights, I didn’t even have time to think of having a “coke™ and a fun snack!” Chug-a-lug!