I went for a walk on the beach, and I sat there for a long time, looking at shells, and thinking that they are quite like people. You can easily pick apart the pretty shells just by staring down at the surface of the sand, but to find the truly extraordinary ones, you have to sift through all of the others. It's easy to find a nice shell, but it takes hard work to find the most beautiful ones amongst all the rest. So I thought, what makes a shell so impossibly spectacular? It's not just the outside, but also the interior of the shell. It's the brilliant colors and the glossy surface, but it's also the barnacles in interesting places, the perfectly imperfect cracks, the chipped edges, the specks of dirt crusted onto the surface. The perfect shell isn't so perfect, it appears. I find that the most magnificent shells are the assymetrical ones, he ones that are not only beautiful but also interesting. Something to set them apart from all the rest. Because shells are like people. It's easy to find someone who's beautiful. It's harder to find someone who is extraordinary in so many ways.
I found a shell today, and I thought that if I were a shell, it would be me. It was an ordinary shell- plain white -but there were deep canals carved into the surface. In truth, they reminded me of the scars which mark my own skin. I wondered where the shell could have gotten these marks, and I realized that there was a story there, behind those scars. Then I looked at all the other shells on the beach, and realized that every single one has a story, just like every single person in the world.
I don't know how that shell got those marks, and I probably never will. In a world with so many people and so many stories, how can we really know anyone? I feel like the deepest connection you can have with a person is for them to tell you their story, the story behind their scars, cracks, and chipped edges.
So, here I am in Florida. Thinking about my story. Thinking about life. Thinking about anything and everything all at the same time.
Alright, well, seafood waiting. I'm in Florida, after all. I left my camera at home accidentally, so I won't be posting any pictures until later in the week. I'm having it shipped down here. I'm so excited to take a break from the cold weather and quite frankly from people in general. I'll probably have a lot of things to blog about this week.
Au revoir mes amis, CK
