This past weekend brought us to my hometown for the annual Seaside Heights Palm Sunday Easter Egg Hunt.  It was a brightly lit, perfectly blue-skyed afternoon with a crisp southern wind and white-capped waves.  And although the kids enjoy digging in the cold beach sand for plastic eggs, I love the feel of the damp granules moving between my fingers as I search for buried loot.  (Assisting my little ones, I assure you.)

I have always loved the beach, no matter what the season or weather.  I love sunbathing in the heat of July as well as walking down the beach in the wet misty haze of a post-hurricane autumn day, grey and gloomy.  More than anything though, I love to search for the treasurers that our vast Atlantic deposits along the shore.   And since I was able to walk while simultaneously carrying a pail, I have collected the ocean’s prizes.

For much of my childhood, I thought I would study to be a marine biologist… the natural course of events for a beach-bummy Jersey Girl.  Although this longing did not come to fruition, I still love the ocean and now teaching my children about its bounty. 

So, I want to share these amazing photos from our recent walk on the beach this Sunday.  In all my life… in all my 38 years… I have only dreamed about finding a shell as big and majestic as the one I found just a few days ago.  Truly a gift from God.  I am so excited for you to see. [Read more...]