Doug and I are staying on St Pete Beach while our home undergoes renovations in order to make it more allergy and energy efficient friendly. You don't realize just how allergic you are to your house until you don't leave it for 5 months! The other problem, was the bedroom was consistently 10 degrees hotter or colder than the rest of the house. We couldn't figure out why, until Doug cut a hole in the roof of the garage and found a vent that was never properly sealed. Yikes! Yesterday, we had Energy Monster remove 6 gigantic bags of old "Neapolitan" insulation. 6 bags, that filled the back of a trailer!!! They called it Neapolitan because the insulation removed was pink, yellow and brown. Today, they'll spray foaming the roof. It's quite a process.
But I'm enjoying our stay at the beach in the meantime!
I finally managed to sneak in a morning beach walk yesterday and today. I can't believe I've lived in Florida 25 years, and I have more hours hypnotizing people to imagine they're at the beach than I have at a beach myself! That's going to change, I guarantee you.
While walking on the beach I spotted a shell in the sand. After 18 years of comedy - you learn to think differently about things. And my mind did not disappoint! It started wondering and wandering, like it often does.
"How did this shell get here?"
“What creature made this his home?”
“Where’s the other half?”
Hmmm. That question bothered me a lot. Where is the other half? Did it get pissed at it's other half and said "See ya?" Did it go through a bad break up, or was the divorce peaceful? Was this shell the ugly duckling of other shells, or was it the hot shell stud muffin? Whatever thoughts I had on one cup of coffee weren't right, because I decided to try and find this shell a mate. Yes, surrounded by millions of other shells...this shell was not going to drift alone any longer.
Another 1000 steps or so, I found another shell that caught my eye. I picked it up, examined it, and then put it down. Not a match.
It was chipped to hell with barnacles all over it. I kept walking and found another shell that closely matched my original…but was way too big. I kept looking for the perfect shell mate, but in the millions of shells around me none of them were suitable. I did find some interesting shells along the way - all different shapes, sizes and colors. I kept those - because I liked them.
2000 steps down the beach, I found a mate! It wasn’t perfect…but it was close enough. They looked happy together.
And then...I had an epiphany! Not only did I know how to spell "epiphany" without spell check, I realized that people do exactly what I did with the shells, only with other people. In the billions of shells out there, they pick up shells and examine them. They toss or put down the ones they don’t like, and keep and treasure the ones they do.
I found a shell with a bunch of barnacles on it.
I’m sure that shell had some great stories, but it seemed to me that it came with a lot of baggage. And the shell walls were so thick! It needed a lot of protection from all the hangers-on. I kept it anyway, because it was interesting and I could learn something from it. Got any shells like that?
It's interesting to me the shells that people keep. Sometimes people toss shells they do like. Sometimes they keep shells they don't like.
Some people collect shells that look just like them. Some people collect shells that do not look anything like them. Some people have an eclectic assortment of shells. None of these are wrong. What shells are in your personal collection?
On my way back to the condo, I found this.
It was full of holes and had bonded with a shell, in the shape of a heart. Two unique creatures, bonded together, in the shape of LOVE.
How beautiful is that?
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