Survivors

I currently reside in Sussex County, Delaware, and so I’m blessed to be able to stroll the many beaches of the Delmarva Peninsula. Now I grew up shell collecting on the Gulf side of the Florida coast with my sisters and grandmother. Shelling in that area is like hitting a gold strike…gorgeous specimens, shallow, clear, bath water beaches that just beg you to find their mother lode.

The Atlantic coast shoreline is a battering ram in comparison. The poor, lone objects of its fury are usually worn down, shattered fragments of their past glory, and yet, somehow finding them is more exciting than the most intact beauties I was used to collecting (and still do on trips to the Sunshine State). On calm mornings or during the last light of the afternoon, pieces of liquid color shimmer in the surf. I grab my favorites like kids at Christmas hoarding their gifts, rinse off the sand and lay them on a towel. Gentle peach tones, otherworldly golds, oranges and yellows, stunning purples and greys, indigo…the beating water and abrasive sand expose their incredible beauty. As in life, if we so choose, the trials and painful situations work to reveal the precious treasures of the soul.