Today we spent some time outside, weeding our flower bed, mowing the lawn, grilling our dinner, and cleaning off the deck. As part of this last venture, we discussed getting rid of our daughter's little make shift sand box.
It started out as a great idea when we moved into our house. I bought play sand and a plastic storage box and filled it up. She could play with it any time she wanted, and we could put a lid on it after she was finished so that our wonderful cat would not use it as a potty.
Well after several years in the blaring Arkansas summer sun, the box had disintegrated, and the sand had been used as a litter box. We told our now seven year old that it was time for it to go. She agreed and it was slowly dismantled. However, in the midst of the dismantling, we found some hidden treasures, some pleasant and some not. She found her beloved shell collection that had been forgotten. It consisted of 20 shells, it would have been 21, but one fell through the cracks of our deck. Some of these shells were collected on the beach in Gulf Shores when we took a family vacation with my sister and her family. The other shells, were remnants of snails that lived in our family salt water fish tank that we got when our daughter was 2. She was too young to remember the trip to the beach, but she has seen pictures so she feels she remembers. She remembers the salt water tank, with our fishes Foxy and Scout, but that has since disappeared.
She was so excited to find these shells, because she had forgotten that they existed. She laid them on the deck railing to let them dry out after their good hose soaking. It is so wonderful to be able to share the excitement of a child. The simplest and littlest things can make them so happy. It is a lesson that I need to remember, a lesson that I need to hang on to so that I too can be happy with the smallest discoveries.
