Yesterday we explored a local spot called Smith Cove. It’s full of big black limestone rock formations with blue water and sandy beaches below. It’s the perfect place to swim, snorkel and jump from giant rocks. I have many, much more beautiful images, but this is the one you need to see most today.
This one tells a story of love and loss.
We bought this awesome little water frisbee Scoobarang thing at a dive shop two days ago. The boys have LOVED playing with it. It’s so unique. It skips on top of the water what seems like forever. Then if you throw it under the water, it comes right back to you like a boomerang. (It’s very cool.) Noah was skipping it along the beach right under this awesome little cave when, all of a sudden, it disappeared into the awesome little cave.
Seems like no biggie, right?
Wrong. Those waves that look like they are gently lapping the shore, came crashing with a vengeance under that rock. I wouldn’t let him go near that edge, even though at first, we could still see the orange of the frisbee in the break of the wave back in the darkest corner. It obviously wasn’t at all worth the risk, right?
Try telling him that.
“But mom! I can see it. It’s just right there. I know I can make it back before a big wave comes. . . ” and on and on.
But I couldn’t let him, I love him too much.
So we watched together, as the little bit of orange disappeared into the surf in the darkness. He ran up on the rock, just sure that there was another passageway for that water behind the rock. Surely it would come out into the ocean where he could jump to get it. But it didn’t come.
So he came back to the beach to keep watching and waiting.
I wanted to make promises that we would find another one. I wanted to assure him it would come back if he just kept waiting. I wanted to promise we wouldn’t leave until it returned.
But I couldn’t.
I wasn’t at all sure we could find another one or that it would come back. It was already 6pm and I knew we couldn’t stay much longer. I knew the only thing I could do was help him let it go.
That’s what I did.
We talked about all the fun we had in the short time we had it. We talked about how it might turn up for another kid at random some day and be such a fun surprise. We talked about the neat memories he’ll have of letting it go right there at Smith Cove.
He got a little teary, but he let it go.
He ran off to build a sand castle on the shore beside the cave. I swam over to Oaks to look at a stingray he found. Feeling emotional about Noah growing up.
That’s when I heard his thrilled voice calling “Mom! Come quick! I see it!”
Almost as soon as he let it completely go, he was building his sand castle when he saw something orange out of the corner of his eye. And there it was. After all that time we waited and watched with no evidence of its return. . . it suddenly appeared.
He grabbed it and we hugged, with a coming-of-age story to tell.
If you love something, set it free. . . there are loads of different endings to that quote.
But I believe, if you learn to set the people and things you love free, you’ll discover. . .
you are the one who is free.
to more love,
Crystal
