Lessons Learned From Seaglassing

About 8 years ago I discovered my first piece of sea glass on the beach in Bimini, Bahamas where we visit often.  After quickly finding a few more pieces I quickly found that I had a new obsession!  I began teaching Riley to walk along the shore and pick up the pieces of shiny colored glass.  We worked as a team combing the shore and him walking along side of me as I snorkeled close to shore picking up piece after piece.  It wasn't long before Riley caught on to tossing back the pieces that weren't quite ready.  Obviously, the girls became interested too...being that we were looking for pretty, colorful, shiny things to collect!  And now, we still walk along looking, but now everyone looks 'a little deeper.'

Even Taylor dives down for it!

How could you not get addicted to this?

Found.

Of course, Mollie gets side tracked by other things...

But finding a pretty Conch Shell surely isn't a bad discovery either!

A few years ago we started talking about the 'life lessons' we could learn from our sea glass hunting.  So here are a few:

1. Sometimes the ocean gives and sometimes she takes.  {We often find these beautiful treasures, but if we don't grab the opportunity quickly enough or if we are careless in the way we handle the opportunity, well, the 'ocean' (or life) may just sweep the treasure back out to sea.}  And when this happens, while its frustrating, we need to accept the loss and move on...and learn from the mistake.

2. Just because something is pretty & shiny from a distance doesn't mean that its going to be good enough to keep.  Some pieces have the prettiest color, but the edges are still jagged and rough--those pieces need some more time to improve and get smooth.  Which also leads us to #3...

3. Don't settle for just any piece of sea glass.  {Quality over Quantity is a tough one for the little ones to grasp!}

4. Patience brings reward.  We have learned that if you are patient and persevere that you will be rewarded with a big beautiful piece.

5. And like Mollie and her Conch shell up there....sometimes the thing you were looking for isn't what you needed after all!  Don't be so focused on a single thing that you lose sight of the other opportunities around you.

A 'small' collection of our sea glass finds and one of my favorite pictures of Riley hunting