My New Religion

Can sea glass hunting be considered a religion? And if so, can the beach be considered a church? Because if they can, sign me up! I'm ready to join!

Thank you all for your responses on my last post about sea glass. I have to admit that I wrote that way too late at night with a deadline looming and a definite loss for subject matter or writing ability. I have simply been drawing blanks when it comes to ideas of what to write about because I feel like I am just saying the same ol' thing over and over again...and who wants to read that crap each day?!

I am currently on hour three of a six-hour stint of total and complete me-ness. M is at school, and the other half and B are back on the mother ship. (For my mother ship friends, I did come to town quite briefly to say goodbye to my great uncle who is ailing. Would've called, but we were a comedy of errors in that B got a puke bug and vomited in the in-laws van, M soaked-and I mean SOAKED-through an overnight diaper all over my mother-in-law's mattress, and the other half sustained some sort of heel injury during a soccer game and ended up on crutches. It was an interesting trip and I was quite ready to come home!)

I dropped M at school this morning and excitedly drove straight to my secret sea glass spot. I realize it's not entirely a secret, but on weekdays it seems that way to me, and that makes me giddy beyond belief. I discovered that if I go south instead of north on my beach, I get to be daring and rebellious and leap from slippery rock to slippery rock to a part of the coast most don't realize you can access. The seals are in pupping season and are lounging on the rocks out in the water and I am cautious and respectful of their presence. Last week even with my awareness, I suddenly came upon three small seals...what appeared to be a Mom and two pups. (Though I believe they generally only have one pup at a time??) They were the color of sand, not the typical gray-black of the harbor seals we generally see,(the adults) and the mother and one of the two pups were clearly languishing. I stepped back so as to not cause them any further stress, but I admit that I could not walk entirely away very quickly; I felt this connection to this threesome and thought for a long pause about the odd beauty of the scene and the bonds of mother and child. The second pup that did not seem to be in bad shape kept looking at me, as though it felt comforted by my presence. I cried for these three seals and cursed nature for their demise...or was I cursing nature for my own feelings of loss? Probably both.

Fast forward one week later to today...I wondered if I'd come upon the three seals again or if the tide would have washed them away. As I walked closer to the same rock I saw them near last, I noticed one small figure lying in the sand and assumed it to be the remains of one of the pups. As I got closer, I recognized it to be the one that was strongest...and it raised its head and yawned the most adorable seal yawn...it was alive!! But how was it alive? Who was caring for it? I am most aware that seal pups are often left on the beach while their mothers forage in the sea. But I'd been so sure that this pup was with the larger seal I'd seen last week. I considered whether I should call marine rescue or not and continued on my way down the beach. Quite a ways down I could hear the other seals calling to one another and turned to see a large, beautiful female make its way to the pup. I'd see on my walk back that she had in fact moved her baby a bit closer to the rock for added concealment. I ended my morning with two rare pieces of glass: one bright pink and one yellow with a fleur de lis, and a feeling of happiness to know that the baby seal was being cared for after all. It was the most beautiful kind of morning I could have asked for!

*Please note that I know not to bother this pup in any way so as to not truly make its mother abandon it!!*