Seeing More...

I should have known when I saw this not-quite-grown, red-shouldered hawk...who squawked at me because I was getting too close...


I should have known that I might have some new insight on this day.

You see, we went to Florida over the holiday weekend to visit my father. And, for Valentine's Day, we went treasure-seeking on the beach.

It was chilly but beautiful. And there was lots of flotsam and jetsam on the beach that had washed ashore from the storm the previous day.


Lots of the sea's detritus...fragments...but not many shells. OK. Not many "good" shells...at least, that's what I overheard my fellow shell seekers say as they stooped and picked and tossed the unwanted bits and pieces...rejecting them.

Hmmm. This got me thinking about what we consider beautiful. Why aren't all shells beautiful? What makes one more beautiful than another?

Are the only beautiful shells those that look like the ones we find in the encyclopedia or maybe those that are printed on a greeting card at Hallmark -- ?

Is it the physical shell itself or is it our thinking about the shell that drives our conclusion?

What if, because we choose to see differently, and we think just a little harder...

What if those rejects become part of something new and beautiful?

Like a seashell tree.

A place for all of the sand-worn, time-beaten shells...a retirement home...a place to shell out...

It is so unexpected! The whole idea of a seashell tree is delightful to me!

And there was so much more to see on the beach this day. So many small animals that lost the fight against the ocean's current and landed on the shore...to inspire us.

Like this pattern on the crab shell.

And this horseshoe crab vignette with it's feather perfectly placed. And unbelievably, I didn't "style" these pics...they were arranged by the sea.

Like this sweet, little purple urchin who lost his spines in the current...

It made me think...Just like how we cursorily dismiss the shells on the beach that are not perfect...and just like how I watched person after person walk right by all of that wonder that had washed up on shore without even looking...

It made me realize that we treat human beings the same way. We're always looking for what isn't there versus what really is...and we miss so much.

And if you happen to be someone who isn't very good at packaging themselves into an entertaining, 5-second sound-byte, complete with bells and whistles...How often do we really spend the extra time it takes to look a little deeper? To get a bigger sense of the human being that stands before us?

Oh. I am so guilty. So guilty of being busy and making snap judgments. Of being lazy, and not wanting to do the "work" to find out more about someone.

And as I sat and thought...My eyes turned to my husband Jim, my beach-combing Valentine. People often dismiss him after the introductory, obligatory five-second hello.

Jim is gentle and quiet. He isn't the life of the party and he isn't about to toot his own horn to get noticed. He'd rather not.

But if you bother to be patient. To take the time to get to know him. To stop and examine and really look -- there is truth and depth and richness to behold. Not the kind that catches the eye at first glance...but the kind that shines deeply from within -- the best kind. And if you bother to make the effort to become his friend, you'll have the most selfless, loyal friend you could imagine.

It was Jim who pointed out how this broken sea urchin -- when viewed from the inside out -- has five small hearts at its center.

Jim notices a lot.

This nine-armed sea star was still alive so he threw him back...

What beauty we found that day! I think it was one of the most amazing beach-combing days we've ever had. And we hardly found any shells.

We saw so much more than we normally do.

And, it's not like those hidden treasures haven't been there all along...we just hadn't seen them before.

And speaking of hidden treasures, did you happen to see the performance by slam poet Shane Koyczan at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics (see it here)?? His poem titled "We Are More" (transcript here) blew me away...it is all about "seeing more". And I was so excited to see poetry of all things at an opening ceremony for athletes! And, Shane was found because he had posted his work on YouTube...not hidden anymore after Friday's performance...


And did you know that eighty countries around the world have been working over the past 10 years to make a Census of Marine Life -- past, present and future? And that the book is due out in March? And, that when the team actually began to really see and study what was living in our oceans...that they found over 6,000 new species for us to look at?


There is indeed so much more to see.

Phew. A little long-winded today...I'll be amazed if any of you are still here...