Drink up, Buttercup

I don’t really recall drinking a whole lot of water over the course of my childhood. I do, however, distinctly remember the two-liter bottle of Pepsi that had its own designated spot on the kitchen counter in my family’s home, and was perpetually replenished.  

There were also copious amounts of Lipton tea, brewed fresh by my Mama every single evening, and poured into a ceramic pitcher, already half-full of white sugar, that was passed around the supper table without fail. 

In the hot summer months, we kids would come inside from playing only long enough to ration the powder from one packet of grape Kool-Aid between four plastic cups. We’d plop in a few ice cubes, fill our cups to the brim with sink water, guzzle our concoction, and venture back outside.  

And then there were the special occasion drinks: cherry and Coke swirled Icees from the gas station as a reward for a good report card; root beer floats to accompany popcorn on family movie nights; eggnog at Christmas time; syrupy fruit punch at friends’ birthday parties; special reserve ginger ale for sick days; and, much to the delight of a 10-year-old girl eager to join the ranks at the grown-up’s table for dessert on Thanksgiving, “coffee” (a mug of sweetened milk with a splash of joe).  

But water? The life-sustaining liquid that makes up roughly 60% of our bodies, significantly impacts our sleep, energy level, cognition, and mood, regulates our body temperature, improves digestive and muscle function, flushes out toxins, etc.? Nah. 

I truly do have a hard time bringing to memory times when I drank any significant amount of water during my first 18 years of life, aside from the few sips from a paper Dixie cup I’d take after brushing my teeth, a couple swigs from the communal cooler during halftime of a soccer game, or gulps of lukewarm H2O from the rusty nozzle of my grandparent’s garden hose. Never once do I recall taking a water bottle along with me to school or any extracurricular activity.  

Twenty years later, I’m happy to report that I survived, against all odds, years of long-term water deprivation. In fact, although I still haven’t kicked my two-cups-a-day coffee habit or my occasional hankering for a cold Diet Coke, I’ve developed into quite the faithful water drinker. 

Am I consuming the recommended eight glasses a day? Probably not. But, it’s safe to say that the daily mealtime sweet tea has been replaced. 

And these days, I marvel at how seriously the next generation — my elementary-aged children and their peers — take their hydration. Water receptacles travel with them everywhere, much like security blankets in stainless steel form. 

If you see anyone under age 15 out and about, I can almost guarantee that there is a Hydro Flask, Yeti, Stanley, or trademark green-and-orange Gatorade squirt-top bottle somewhere on their person. 

My 7- and 10-year-olds get thirsty on the 2.9-mile drive to Harris Teeter. They keep water cups on their bedside tables, their bathroom counters, and maybe another one stashed somewhere else in case of a dehydration emergency on the long journey from the upstairs to our kitchen. They have designated personal water containers for dance, soccer, school, and baseball. It’s a phenomenon, really.  

I recently listened to my own daughter plead her case as to why it would be perfectly reasonable for us to purchase as one of her Christmas gifts a (non-leak proof) virally trending $45 tumbler, heavy enough to double as a dumbbell, able to contain the same amount of water that I consumed in my entire childhood, and unable to fit in any of the compartments of her backpack. I had to take a pause. 

When I asked her why she felt like it would be a good idea to blow through a good chunk of our gift budget on a glorified cup, she responded without pause, “Because, Mom! It will help me to drink more water, and water is super important for basically everything about your health.” Who can really argue with that?  

And so, these days, my 4th grader hauls her gargantuan Stanley water bottle around with her basically everywhere. She faithfully fills it each morning with crushed ice and filtered water, and replenishes it when she gets home from school, and again at dinnertime, sometimes even adding fancy touches like lemon wedges, mint leaves, or cucumber slices. 

While I still don’t quite get the whole trendy water bottle craze, I have to admit that if I had a thirst that needed to be quenched, a gulp of rust-tinged, tepid hose water would have a mighty hard time holding a candle to a 30-ounce insulated tumbler full of citrus-infused, ice-cold, reverse osmosis H2O.  

The moral of my story is this: drink your water, people. All the cool kids are doing it. It’s apparently super important for basically everything about your health.  

Claire Mullen, who firmly believes that while water is good for your body, sweet tea is good for your soul, can be reached at clairejlmullen@gmail.com. 

Read “The Downtown Issue,” CityView Magazine’s June magazine in an e-edition here.