Kwan was playing with her friends, waves of wonder just like her, having such a great time.

They were rolling around, getting really big, then falling flat, expanding or shrinking or merging with each other, with tickles and giggles and goggles. But then...

One day, a great teacher, Wai, came by, who had seen quite a bit of the world on her travels through the cycles, always on the move. She looked very wise and important. Kwan took up all her courage and asked her: "May I swim alongside you for a while - and maybe ask you some questions?"

Wai looked at the young wave, first hesitant, then just nodded. Now, Kwan was so very excited, she could hardly wait to tell her friends about this giant blessing and that she would be gone for a while, swimming alongside Wai to watch and learn and listen to her wisdom.

Kwan and the Wise One

"I am ONE with the ocean," said the teacher, "because I am practicing every day. See here, I will teach you how." And so she demonstrated what she meant by that: Wai dropped flat and went entirely still - no longer an individual wave. She was ONE with the ocean.

Now, Kwan was super impressed, nothing that she wanted to learn more, so she said good bye to her watery friends, who wished her well for the adventure. She told her mama also - and off she rolled, over to where her teacher had vanished into stillness. Gone. But where to?

Silence. Kwan tried to be really still. Turns out, that wasn't too easy, since she was so FULL of life, everything around her and within her was moving and rolling, tickling and giggling - and she just felt the itch to wiggle and wave to the others, anything but sitting around being still...

Kwan focused, and focused, and focused. At long last, after what felt like yeaaars in her young life, she succeeded: All warm and still, all BLISS, but then - poof! - gone again. Now, she felt separate, like a failure and her joyous wiggles became less exhilarated

from trying too hard, rather than melting...

Days passed, and Kwan missed her friends, their friendship, their games, everything. She had felt serious and heavy from worrying about 'how to do it right', missed laughing with her fellow wavelings. She didn't remember her own unique waveness. And, where was her teacher?