On our last day of vacation, our little family took the rental van on a relatively long excursion over the other side of the island, where the waves are huge and the beach is rocky. We were on a mission to find sea glass for our little collection. Following the directions carefully from our Trip Advisor, “North Side Sue”, we passed the Old Man Bay soccer fields and followed McCoy Road around to the Old Man Bay cemetery, where we pulled into the white sand parking lot.
Quickly gathering our shell bags and sifters, we all hopped out to run down to the beach.
After about 30 minutes of searching this spot that was supposedly laden with sea glass, we were hot, sweaty and there wasn’t a single piece of sea glass among us. Diving into the ocean would have been great right about then, but between the rocks, waves and sea weed, it wasn’t really an option. So we headed back to the car only to find this beauty. Scott and Oaks did find this one dead treasure and they plopped him up on the windshield as a testament to our search and our onward battle cry.
Roaring with laughter, this is how we rolled to our next scavenging destination
He stayed with us through our next destination and a few miles of the trip home, before taking a nosedive to the left on the winding road, thus departing our journey. He gave us some good belly laughs and was a great addition to the overall morale of the trip, even though the smell of him almost did me completely in! We ended up finding a fair amount of sea glass for our little intended project. But most of all, we found joy in just being together on the adventure.
“We have to learn to lean into life as something beautiful, even if it is not exactly what we expected.” – Sally Clarkson
Isn’t it strange how life so rarely goes as you expect it to?
We expected to find sea glass. We found a giant dead crab. But somehow we leaned into that adventure as something beautiful and it will be a treasured family memory for years to come.
I don’t know what you’ve been expecting, but I’m pretty sure where you find yourself today, looks different in some way.
Just for today, instead of focusing on the disappointment that is so easily found, choose to look for the beauty, the laughs, the learning, the growth, the joy, the memories, the connection and the gifts in your unexpected life.
And lean into those.
to more love,
Crystal
