That was the wish made as we ventured out on the first beach walk of my recent vacation.
Beach walking is one of my favorite things to do ... and once-upon-a-time ... in another life ... a friend introduced us to the hunt for ... beach glass.
White, brown, shades of green ... those are the common colors found along the beaches that we most frequently walk. Little bits & pieces of another man's trash ... from another time & place ... washing ashore ... to be claimed as our treasure.
Animated & happy ... she was sharing with me about her new life ... in a place she has always called home ... and about the beach glass she had found in the month or so she's been back.
She had found some nice pieces. But no blue. Yet.
Blue beach glass isn't a totally uncommon find ... on our beaches ... but it's not an everyday thing, either. Every piece of blue ... is special!
It was wonderful to be there ... walking on the beach ... with her ... each of us finding our way back to ourselves ... and to each other.
She had pocketed several small finds. And I had not. We laughed at my "unpracticed" technique. She assured me that it wouldn't take long for me to get it ... back.
A few steps behind ... and a little off to the side ... she paused ... bent down ... and came up with a squeal of delight.
"Look! It's a blue! My first blue piece since I've been back! You're my lucky charm, Mom!"
In that moment ... I knew that ... we were both ... going to be ok.
A little farther down the beach, I spotted a nice piece of green glass. She had her blue ... I had a green ... life was good!
Out of the corner of my eye ... I caught a glimpse of the most vibrant blue-turquoise color I have ever seen. There amongst the broken shells & sea rocks ... was a bead of some sort ... and it was glowing radiantly.
It was fairly large ... and because of it's rich color ... I was certain it was going to be a piece of plastic or other artificial substance.
It was fairly large ... and because of it's rich color ... I was certain it was going to be a piece of plastic or other artificial substance.
Seconds later, she spied it, too. Awed, we were ...and a little breathless.
She stepped aside ... allowing me to claim my prize. It felt warm in my hand ... it was vivid and bright ... and I could feel the energy of the ocean emanating from it.
It is one of the most amazing things I have ever found ... on the beach ... or anywhere, for that matter ...
I have shown the glowing blue orb ... around a lot since then ... it's still radiant even though it has lost a bit of luster since it left the surf & sun ...
One friend suggested that it might be radioactive ...
On a different day, I returned to the same stretch of beach ... early in the morning. There were dozens of people there ... ahead of me.
Most were walking the same route as me. Head down ... eyes focused on the small, immediate area at their feet ... taking teeny, tiny baby steps ... some even had visors or hats pulled over their eyes to narrow their line of sight ... doing the beach glass shuffle ...
Searching for beach glass is much like life ... if you want to find something special, you must keep your eyes on what's right in front of you ... instead of wondering or worrying about what might be over yonder ... or what someone else might be discovering on their walk.
Not to mention ... that it's quite possible for hundreds of people to pass right on by ... without ever seeing ... the special prize ... waiting to be found!
And, of course, everyone's carrying a little bag of some sort ... to put their treasures in for safe keeping.
As I walked ... back and forth ... on that second beach visit, I passed a much older woman ... coming and going. She had her head down ... visor on ... and was carrying what appeared to be the largest ziplock bag I have ever seen ... bigger than the gallon size, without a doubt.
On the fourth pass, we spoke. I asked her if she was having any luck ... finding what she was looking for on the beach. I have no idea ... that was her reply.
So I asked her to show me what was in her bag. Gingerly she held it up. There were rocks, broken shells, pieces of wood ... other random things.
My husband & I moved here a couple of months ago ... retiring ... she said. And each morning I have gotten up to walk the beach ... we live just over there a ways. She pointed back towards the beach road. All of the people on the beach when I walk are carrying little bags ... and they stop from time to time to pick up ... something ... examine it .. then put it in the bag, she continued.
Wanting to fit in ... to belong ... in her new home ... she decided to do the same. Only she honestly didn't have a clue what to pick up ... so she decided that each day she would gather things in her bag ... randomly ... and then once she got home she would unceremoniously dump it all into the trash.
As for the size of her bag, she told me that she figured if she carried a big bag ... and filled it up ... people would think she was a seasoned collector ... and that she was finding & claiming the good stuff ... out from under the noses of everyone else.
It made me smile. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wee snack size ziplock bag ... and showed it to her. Inside was a couple of small pieces of white beach glass.
Her eyes lit up ... and she asked, Ohhhh! What's that?!?
So I took a few minutes and told her about beach glass.
Beach glass ... or sea glass ... is a piece of glass that has been tumbled by natural wave action to the point where there are no sharply-defined edges or corners, and the water along with sunlight and tumbling action have produced a unique frosted surface covering all sides of the glass.
Laughing at herself, she dumped the contents of her big bag onto the ground at our feet. And we spent a few more minutes in a deeper philosophical conversation about the little things in life ... being the ones with the most value ... the most meaning.
I gave her one of the small pieces of white I had found that morning ... and wished her well ... on her journey. It was a significant encounter.
Resuming my walk ... I wandered onto the same shell bed where I had found the beautiful turquoise piece earlier in the week. I was feeling a little despondent because I had only found the two small pieces of white.
You see, it hadn't taken long for me to get back into the groove of the beach glass thing. And in the past, a beach walk was one of the places where my best friend, God, Creator of the Universe taught me to hear His whispers ...
... and finding a piece of glass ... other than white ... was often an acknowledgement of a prayer heard ... a harbinger of an unseen blessing already on its way. And I had come on my vacation ... to the beach ... in search of some answers to my BIG life questions.
So pondering ... I was ... on the bits & pieces of my life ... as I was focusing on the fragments of things scattered along the beach.
Of course, the little orange pebble caught my eye. Orange is one of my colors. Even in my early beach walking days, I was attracted to the orange things. I have random pieces of orange shells ... orange stones ... picked up & carried along ... simply because I liked them.
So I eyed the orange fragment ... and thought to myself ... do I really need another little orange pebble? They really aren't ... anything.
Pick it up! Put it in your pocket! ... came the urgent whisper. And a nudge. Sure it's a little thing ... but if it makes you smile, then it's of great value.
I laughed at myself as I placed it into my bag ... finding special in ordinary things ... it's what I do.
All through the week, I showed off my treasures. Everyone was immediately drawn to the lustrous turquoise bead-like piece. It shines RARE & BEAUTIFUL from it's very core. Impossible to miss the specialness of it ... even to the untrained eye.
Eventually, my pieces were seen by some who were in the know ... as far as beach glass goes. First, was my friend who taught me about beach glass all of those years ago.
She oohed & aahed over the significant piece. Elated at my BIG find. Then she poked her way through my other random pieces of white & green ... and a little yellow pebble ... and another rock or two. She lifted the orange bit and gave it a once over.
I know, I know ... it's just stone, I said. But I liked it!
I reminded her of all of the times I had presented her with a piece of something orange ... and she would always shake her head and say ... It's just a stone, MJ ... pretty but just an ordinary rock.
She smiled sagely.
Funny. I chose something ... simply because I liked it ... only to discover later that it was something rare ... and wonderful.
It is one of the most amazing things I have ever found ... on the beach ... or anywhere, for that matter ...
One friend suggested that it might be radioactive ...
On a different day, I returned to the same stretch of beach ... early in the morning. There were dozens of people there ... ahead of me.
Most were walking the same route as me. Head down ... eyes focused on the small, immediate area at their feet ... taking teeny, tiny baby steps ... some even had visors or hats pulled over their eyes to narrow their line of sight ... doing the beach glass shuffle ...
Searching for beach glass is much like life ... if you want to find something special, you must keep your eyes on what's right in front of you ... instead of wondering or worrying about what might be over yonder ... or what someone else might be discovering on their walk.
Not to mention ... that it's quite possible for hundreds of people to pass right on by ... without ever seeing ... the special prize ... waiting to be found!
And, of course, everyone's carrying a little bag of some sort ... to put their treasures in for safe keeping.
As I walked ... back and forth ... on that second beach visit, I passed a much older woman ... coming and going. She had her head down ... visor on ... and was carrying what appeared to be the largest ziplock bag I have ever seen ... bigger than the gallon size, without a doubt.
On the fourth pass, we spoke. I asked her if she was having any luck ... finding what she was looking for on the beach. I have no idea ... that was her reply.
So I asked her to show me what was in her bag. Gingerly she held it up. There were rocks, broken shells, pieces of wood ... other random things.
My husband & I moved here a couple of months ago ... retiring ... she said. And each morning I have gotten up to walk the beach ... we live just over there a ways. She pointed back towards the beach road. All of the people on the beach when I walk are carrying little bags ... and they stop from time to time to pick up ... something ... examine it .. then put it in the bag, she continued.
Wanting to fit in ... to belong ... in her new home ... she decided to do the same. Only she honestly didn't have a clue what to pick up ... so she decided that each day she would gather things in her bag ... randomly ... and then once she got home she would unceremoniously dump it all into the trash.
As for the size of her bag, she told me that she figured if she carried a big bag ... and filled it up ... people would think she was a seasoned collector ... and that she was finding & claiming the good stuff ... out from under the noses of everyone else.
It made me smile. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wee snack size ziplock bag ... and showed it to her. Inside was a couple of small pieces of white beach glass.
Her eyes lit up ... and she asked, Ohhhh! What's that?!?
So I took a few minutes and told her about beach glass.
Beach glass ... or sea glass ... is a piece of glass that has been tumbled by natural wave action to the point where there are no sharply-defined edges or corners, and the water along with sunlight and tumbling action have produced a unique frosted surface covering all sides of the glass.
Laughing at herself, she dumped the contents of her big bag onto the ground at our feet. And we spent a few more minutes in a deeper philosophical conversation about the little things in life ... being the ones with the most value ... the most meaning.
I gave her one of the small pieces of white I had found that morning ... and wished her well ... on her journey. It was a significant encounter.
Resuming my walk ... I wandered onto the same shell bed where I had found the beautiful turquoise piece earlier in the week. I was feeling a little despondent because I had only found the two small pieces of white.
You see, it hadn't taken long for me to get back into the groove of the beach glass thing. And in the past, a beach walk was one of the places where my best friend, God, Creator of the Universe taught me to hear His whispers ...
... and finding a piece of glass ... other than white ... was often an acknowledgement of a prayer heard ... a harbinger of an unseen blessing already on its way. And I had come on my vacation ... to the beach ... in search of some answers to my BIG life questions.
So pondering ... I was ... on the bits & pieces of my life ... as I was focusing on the fragments of things scattered along the beach.
Of course, the little orange pebble caught my eye. Orange is one of my colors. Even in my early beach walking days, I was attracted to the orange things. I have random pieces of orange shells ... orange stones ... picked up & carried along ... simply because I liked them.
So I eyed the orange fragment ... and thought to myself ... do I really need another little orange pebble? They really aren't ... anything.
Pick it up! Put it in your pocket! ... came the urgent whisper. And a nudge. Sure it's a little thing ... but if it makes you smile, then it's of great value.
I laughed at myself as I placed it into my bag ... finding special in ordinary things ... it's what I do.
All through the week, I showed off my treasures. Everyone was immediately drawn to the lustrous turquoise bead-like piece. It shines RARE & BEAUTIFUL from it's very core. Impossible to miss the specialness of it ... even to the untrained eye.
Eventually, my pieces were seen by some who were in the know ... as far as beach glass goes. First, was my friend who taught me about beach glass all of those years ago.
She oohed & aahed over the significant piece. Elated at my BIG find. Then she poked her way through my other random pieces of white & green ... and a little yellow pebble ... and another rock or two. She lifted the orange bit and gave it a once over.
I know, I know ... it's just stone, I said. But I liked it!
I reminded her of all of the times I had presented her with a piece of something orange ... and she would always shake her head and say ... It's just a stone, MJ ... pretty but just an ordinary rock.
She smiled sagely.
This is NOT a stone, MaryJane. Or a pebble. Or a rock. THIS is a piece of glass!
That's what she said ... and then she showed me ... why. How it was that she knew what it was ... and my naive inexperienced eye missed it completely. The validity of the find was confirmed by others with a trained eye throughout the remainder of the week.
A piece of orange ... is rare ... very rare.
That's because in the history of the world there has been very little orange glass made ... consequently, there is not much of it floating around in the ocean ... as trash.
I looked it up. You know, to see just ... how rare ... it was. It's like 1 in 10,000!
Nothing about my vacation unfolded as planned. At least not as I had planned. His plan proved to be more amazing ... as always.
I am going to have the two rare pieces of glass made into a piece of jewelry. The brilliant piece of turquoise ... and the subtle piece of orange.
Unexpected finds ... in an unexpected place. A little bit of beauty ... and magic ... waiting there for me on the beach.
A reminder ... a good luck charm ... it will be ... that 10,000,000 is only three zeros away from 10,000 ...
... and the desires of my heart ... are most likely ... within easy reach ... just waiting to be discovered!
www.lifelessons-mj.blogspot.com
(c) July 2012
Unexpected finds ... in an unexpected place. A little bit of beauty ... and magic ... waiting there for me on the beach.
A reminder ... a good luck charm ... it will be ... that 10,000,000 is only three zeros away from 10,000 ...
... and the desires of my heart ... are most likely ... within easy reach ... just waiting to be discovered!
www.lifelessons-mj.blogspot.com
(c) July 2012
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