Many of us enjoy shelling when we spend time in coastal areas. Since I was a child, I have enjoyed just meandering down the beach, often getting a crick in my neck from long, long searches for the perfect and unique shell. The truth is each one is unique just as we are. The leisure pastime allows everything else in my life to drift away from my mind as if it is carried out with the last wave as it retreats with the tide.
Do you like shelling? Do you find it relaxing as I do? What about it do you enjoy most?
I find that I really enjoy the discovery of the tiniest of shells, perfectly formed in its own color without any visible chips, with all the detail of the larger ones but just miniature. Then, the wondering begins. How old is this tiny, tiny shell? Where did it first greet life and just how far has it traveled? I find great relaxation in this fond leisure. I recall, as a child riding back home from a vacation at the beach in the backseat of the family car, windows open wide without air conditioning, a shoe box collection of my treasures from the sea and the odorous decaying of some that had their dying inhabitants still intact. Maybe THAT’S why the windows were open and not the heat!
And so we wait until the next trip…
What's Your Passion?
National Audubon Society
Help support the efforts of our National Audubon Society in conservation of natural bird habitats. Visit: www.birds.audubon.org