Water is for Everyone

Somewhere this Sunday, a peaceful babe adorned in an heirloom gown is cradled by their enraptured parents and held over a basin of holy water. The priest dips his withered hands into the water and reverently bathes the baby's crown as he recites the blessing and invocation. A wayward woman has found her way to the baptismal tank at last. She wades down the wide steps toward the preacher, with his waders on and his sleeves rolled, into the warm, symbolic water. As she places her hand over her mouth and nose, he covers her hand in his and cradles her head with the other, preparing her for rebirth. His blessing over the wayfaring saint is given with a vibrato that reaches all the way to the back of the sanctuary before guiding her back below the cleansing water’s surface and up again with jubilee. Water is sacred. Water is essential. Water is gentle but powerful. Water is cleansing but also devastating. Water is transformative, and “Water is for everyone.” - Caroline Williams.

Caroline Williams was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and graduated from Louisiana State University. She has traveled around the world as an Adjunct Instructor and Associate Director for the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research. The Cooper Institute worked closely, at that time, with our nation's military branches, offering support personnel and enlisted men and women training courses in health, fitness, and wellness. Even when she was not traveling, Caroline was working hard at work worth doing by teaching on campus and helping to develop training courses for instructors, including the Aquatic Specialty Certification, where she would eventually meet her future husband, JD.

JD was an active and talented young man, playing college football on a scholarship for the University of Missouri under the leadership of head coach Dan Devine before an orthopedic surgeon recommended he give up football following his third knee surgery. JD took this time to pivot his passions, dropping out of college and taking a job at an offshore drilling company. After only two years, he decided to head back to school and enrolled at Southern Arkansas University on another football scholarship, where he graduated with a degree in Industrial Management. He went on to receive several awards and recognitions for his work, including Southern Arkansas University Outstanding Alumni in 2000 and U.S. Glass Magazine’s 1997 list of the most influential people in the glass and aluminum industry.

Caroline and JD Williams met at the world-renowned Cooper Fitness Center in Dallas, Texas, where JD was a member, and Caroline was working as the Director of Programs. JD had aspirations early in his career to become a hard hat diver and studied the trade as a young man in California. His career took a different path, but his interest in and love for diving remained. He signed up for a scuba diving certification course offered by the Cooper Fitness Center, which Caroline was also attending. In 1992, JD and Caroline said, “I Do!” and spent their honeymoon scuba diving from the coastline of the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

They relocated from Dallas to Tuscaloosa in 2005. During this time, JD collaborated with Coral Industries on several curtain wall projects, including the Bank of Tuscaloosa and the Marshal Flight Center in Huntsville. The couple decided to stay planted in The Fairways at the North River Yacht Club for the last 18 years, compelled by the panoramic beauty and stillness of the golf course. Along with the walkability of the serene neighborhood, perfect for their dogs Duffy and Lucky, The Fairways offered JD and Caroline the perfect place to spend their time on solid ground. But the world beneath the water was always waiting for them.

Their love for the water and diving has taken them all over the world. The aquatic sweethearts traveled frequently to exotic and majestic locations all over the world, such as Roatan, Honduras, and the Cayman Islands. They experienced one of the Seven Wonders of the World, as only a few have, by spending a week diving the Great Barrier Reef in Australia on a 120’ yacht as a guest of author C.C. Vanderstar. Caroline and JD have experienced exciting phenomena under the water's surface together, including the aftershock of an earthquake at 90’ down. The roar of the earth's shaking and movement of the water was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that few humans can boast.

Water is an element that is essential to more than just our life and health. Yes, we need water for almost every bodily system to function properly, but more than our physical bodies, science has proven that water is vital to the health of our souls as well. The Blue Mind Theory, coined by marine biologist Dr. Wallace Nichols, is the mildly meditative state people fall into when they are near, in, under, or on water and is used to describe the state of water-associated peace. So it comes as no surprise that scuba diving enthusiasts Caroline and JD Williams have never let the pull to immerse themselves in the universal essence of life go unanswered.

Dr. Nichols wrote, "We are drawn to water because we come from, and are still largely made of water. In fact, the human body is about 60 percent water, and the brain is 75 percent water. When you see water, when you hear water, it triggers a response in your brain that you’re in the right place.” Scientists have known for years that the atmosphere at a beach or by moving water contains elevated levels of negatively charged ions that increase the production of all three feel-good hormones - dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin - while decreasing cortisol, the stress hormone. Now, as neurologists and psychologists turn their attention to the effects of water environments on the brain, they are finding scientific evidence that validates what we instinctively feel by water

Somewhere this week, countless religious institutions will perform sacred water ceremonies all over the world. It may be February, but somewhere this week, a father will stand with his son in a gently flowing river and teach him the perfect fly fishing technique exactly like his father taught him. Somewhere this week, a young girl will play mermaids with her friends, imagining they are King Tritan’s princess daughters of the seven seas, or search for eye-catching stones in the creek bed to add to her collection of nature's baubles. Finding ways to connect with water is an important tool for managing and improving not just our physical and mental health but that of the soul as well.