Shells and Stories for a Birthday

I often come to the edge of the earth to celebrate my birthday.  I know that some people don’t like to celebrate their birthdays, but I do!  After much soul-searching, I believe this birthday-celebrating need stems from the memory of years of ice cream cakes all mushed together into a cold and sweet mess in my mouth.

So, on my birthday, at six o’clock in the morning I walked down to the beach.  Having a birthday in October gives me almost an hour to watch the sun god slowly lift the bright orange ball out of the depths of the ocean, and raise it triumphantly into the blue sky.

It’s an awesome sight every single time. What a gift it is to start the day this way!

I believe strongly in the power of little things. Noticing little things brings meaning and happiness. 

As I walked along, I picked up many tiny pieces of shells.  No they weren’t traditionally beautiful like some of the larger, whole shells you could find, with the lovely coloring and markings and gradations, but these were more interesting.

Think of their history, the stories they could tell.  They have been broken apart by wild waves in a stormy ocean, but they have survived to tell the tale.  These shell pieces are stories; they are survivors from rough seas.  And today, they once again shine brightly in the sun, radiating light and happiness with the savvy understanding of life that only years can bring.

Time, we know, brings both scrapes to the shell and stories to the heart.  But as long as the sun god keeps raising up the orange ball, the sunlight will reflect that history and its inherent beauty.   

©2014 Margery Leveen Sher