Artwork by Andrew Lively

Once upon a time, there was a little wave. The wave loved being a wave  going up and down and playing all day and night. The wave was surrounded by lots of other waves and it had fun watching them, too.

Then one day, the little wave noticed that something seemed to be happening to the waves in front of it. It noticed that it, along with all the other waves, was coming up to something big… the end of the ocean.

The little wave saw a wave in front of it going up, higher and higher. That wave was filled with light and it was as high as it could possibly go (which was the best part of being a wave)… and then it came crashing down and smashed into bits.

The little wave saw another wave in front of it do the same thing… go way up high and then come crashing down.

The little wave saw this and became very afraid.

But, what the little wave didn’t realize yet was that it was water.

The wave was completely made of water! And as water, the wave was never born and it never died. As water, it didn’t smash to bits  it simply changed its form, trickled onto the beach, and then rolled right back into the ocean.

Soon, the little wave began going up and up, higher and higher. As it finally rose to the tip-top, about to come crashing down, it saw that the other waves were simply changing form! They changed from waves into spray and drops of water and rolled back into the great ocean, but the whole time, they were still made of water. The little wave realized that it was really water ... and it wasn’t afraid anymore.