Nature lessons

Last weekend I had an invitation that I couldn’t turn down. A weekend on Peaks Island in a summer house on the beach. Honestly, who can say “no” to that? On Saturday I took the 3:45 pm ferry out to the island and arrived there around 4:00 pm. At about 4:20 pm I was on the beach. Ever since I was little I’ve been obssessed with rocks, have loved the ocean and liked exploring nature by myself. I can spend as much time as I want there and I can do whatever I want without worrying about someone else. This past weekend I found a new love that many people now know, sea glass. As I was collecting beach rock after beach rock and piece of sea glass after piece of sea glass, I realized something. There are a million different rocks and pieces of sea glass and they are all beautiful in their own way.

I’ve always loved rocks because they are all different and every time you turn a one around or look at it from a different angle. With sea glass there were really polished pieces and not so polished pieces, different colors and shapes. I was bending down every two seconds to rummage through the piles of rocks looking for a different rock or sea glass piece. Almost every time I bent down I found one. I was in heaven and I was happy. I started thinking about how I wished life was more like the nature it was formed around.

I wished that we could all just share the beach edge together and live together. “I’d like to teach the world to sing  in perfect harmony” all that jazz. I’d like everyone, every size to just be. I’d like to see someone pick up the huge stone or jagged piece of sea glass and see the quiet beauty in that piece of earth. I’d like to see that someone for once think that the heavier rock with more layers to show the depth and life of this compressed sand. Ok, ok I’m getting nerdy but hey that’s one of my layers and I love that about myself.

As I was thinking about this I figured out that I wanted all this so bad because I’ve always felt like the big rock that people didn’t want to pick up. Big rocks are heavy, wet and have bugs skitter out of from underneath them. People always pick up the smaller rocks because they fit easier in peoples’ pockets, and who doesn’t love pocket people? But here’s the deal, big rocks are beautiful. Big rocks have hundreds of layers from decades of braving the ocean, critters and storms. Big rocks have been beaten down by their environment and have come out on top. Don’t get me wrong. I adore small rocks, some of my bestest friends go in the small rocks category. I think though, that big rocks will get their day. And when that day comes, I may have a few less layers than I did months ago, I will be ready. I admit it world. I am a big rock that might be a little damper but I have so many angles to me and they are all beautiful. Look out world the big rocks are coming through!

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