Shells teaching lessons

One of my favorite parts about going to the beach is shelling.  I could walk for miles picking up shells.  Our special place at Emerald Isle has so many awesome shelling spots I'm absolutely spoiled.  When we got to Chincoteague I admit that I was a little disappointed.  90% of the shells I found were broken or generic oyster shells.  I stumbled across a few pretty colored scallop shells but returned with a tiny bucket containing less than a dozen shells.

On my second walk of the day (I've got a new Fitbit and have been determined to hit my 10K steps each day since, including walks on the beach) Erin decided she wanted to come along.  The tide was out so I grabbed a plastic bag and we headed up the beach away from the small crowds.

We got 10 steps up the beach and Erin reached down for an oyster shell -- "Mom!  This is the most beautiful shell, see how it looks like a wing."  I had passed that same shell 10 times in my chasing the kids up and down that stretch of beach throughout the day, but to E it was priceless.

Ten steps later "This one is a dragon wing!"  (Same style of shell, different coloring).  Plop into the bag.

She discovered that if we walk in the surf there are small colonies of shells washed ashore at the edge of the surf.  She'd throw herself into the water to chase after the perfect shell before the waves took it back out to sea.

Sometimes I'd hear, "Mom you missed this one.  It's purple and pink.  Why didn't you pick it up?"

Why didn't I pick it up?  What about that shell did she see that I had quickly passed by.  What else in life am I walking by too quickly to see. What does she try and tell me that I'm too busy to hear?

With our bag laden down we ran across a gentleman who's first language was clearly something other than English.  He tried to ask Erin if she had found "Big" shells.  When she started to show him her abundance of smaller shells he waved his hand and continued on his walk.  Clearly not impressed.  Erin would have easily continued to show off her beloved collection.  "See this one, it looks like a tree branch?"  

The two of us walked up the beach for almost 40 minutes before we realized how far we'd gone and had to turn back to get to daddy and Jeffrey.  We continued to talk and pick up lovely little shells until the bag literally started bursting at the seams.

What exactly I'm going to do with a bag full of 30 oyster shells, I'm not quite sure.  But I will always remember the lessons I learned from my 10 year old while looking for shells.

• Every shell is beautiful in someone's eyes
• Where I see a shell, Erin sees a dragon's wing or a boat.
• It doesn't matter if we have a big shell, every one in the bag is special
• It's worth a mouth full of salt water to grab that next shell, even if it is another white oyster 
• Don't walk so fast you miss all the colors in the world
• Step up and tell the world what you found.

Thanks for the lessons baby girl

See some of my beautiful shells?