It was a warm sunny day following what had been a freezing and rainy weekend. The white caps on the waves were stunning. I had never seen the tide so far up on the shore. My daughter, now a little tired of sea glass hunts, was curious to go to the beach. It’s fall now. We don’t take warm “beach days” for granted or assume later or tomorrow or next week will offer another day up for the hunt.
We climbed the sea wall, literally, up and down five or so times as my girl is enjoying her new found physical confidence. I slipped on a wet rock and she told me her secrets, “Don’t walk where the rocks are dark. They are wet.” She was right. I tend to stay on tiny pebbles with bits of sand. She runs for the big rocks.
She was rejoicing in her new found ability to spot white pieces, greens, browns, to point out the gems I had walked past that she spotted. She wanted to know how many pieces I had in my bag and was pretty sure, whatever the number, she had more. I slowed down my sea glass hunt to allow her more abundance. I didn’t stop hunting but slowed my pace. She was delighted. “See this green you walked past?” and she would show me her pieces. She would let go of the sharper pieces and could believe, with a more full bag, there would be enough without grabbing “uncooked” sharp pieces. Is the key to not being greedy or fretful in anything to have enough to begin with? And where does that leave those who don’t get their fair share from the start? It is easier to let go when one trusts they have enough and there will be enough. But even children do this more easily only after filling a bag. Like a kid on Halloween who can share her candy only after the bag is more than half way filled up, when to share doesn’t mean dividing half the bounty but giving a way one or two percent.
Anyhow, we found rocks and shells and cool shaped and colored leaves on the shore but we left those behind. It was a sea glass hunt. The water was calm. The sun almost setting. There were no warm sunny spots we could warm up in. But the changing colors of the sky made up for the coolness. After covering the beach, we sat under the stairs in her hide out area and opened our bags.
“Want to trade?” she had asked.
“Sure,” I said.
We pulled out the pieces we couldn’t part with knowing we had to save some gems for the trade or we wouldn’t have anything to bargain with. She pocketed a big green bottle bottom and I pocketed an almost identical size and shape, but purple in color one.
We each put out the pieces we were willing to trade. I had two look-alike browns and she wanted to trade. I gave her one for the matching mother daughter set. That day, the browns were large and soft and warm. We both had many pieces but these particular brown ones had half circles with several lines. Two pieces, almost the same, so sharing was fun.
Catch of the Day: The realization that even when it isn’t fall we have no idea ever how many laters or next weeks we have. When it’s not a scary thought it is a liberating aha “that’s why we’re supposed to be in the moment” feeling. And that’s how it felt that day, under a beautiful sky with my girl. I can get caught up in what I should or could or might have been doing. I’m glad I didn’t let the worried brain take over. I’m glad I didn’t miss those exact moments spent exactly as they were.
You can see that sometimes I hammer the sterling silver wire at the bottom and other times add a small peace charm. Sometimes I use more than one piece of sea glass in a bookmark. The wire, I find, can be more expensive than the actual bookmark finding if I use too much. So, for me, learning to use less wire is one of my crafting goals for the fall and winter and 2010. I am a huge fan of recycled sterling silver (like the green aspect, the cost and the texture of the wire) and I need to conserve how much I actually need in any piece.
SEA GLASS ARTS with Sea Glass Girl 