Beach collection jars store vacation memories
A Story Dedicated To My Mom – Her hands have carried so many shells and her love has made me, me!
Are you headed to the beach or seashore for Spring, or Summer? One thing that does not change are the shells are always rolling in with the waves.
There are timeless traditions that are carried on from family to family and generation to generation and many traditions as such are born during family vacations.
Vacations for many are when families come together, visit, hang out, and often get large beach houses, party on, and enjoy each other for a week or two at a time until they can rekindle again the following year.
For some families, beach time is the only time they get to see their family, a time when everyone just takes off from work because this is what they have done as families in generation to generation over the years, hence a Tradition has been born.
The beach vacation, is where a lot of traditions are created and the one I am about to share with you is not only a tradition, but a passion of mine and my mother’s.
The sand, sea, ocean and sun all take part and lend to the fun of the story of The Beach, The Collection, and The Jar, as story of how addiction, turned into tradition.
The Beach
Ever since I can remember, I have been traversing to a sun-filled beach.
As a child my parents took me to Hawaii, South Carolina, Florida, and California.
Later we went cruising and ended up on beaches in places like St. Thomas, St. Maarten, The Dominican Republic, Bermuda, and Jamaica, so days on the beach were nothing new to us.
Strolling along the beach, we collected shells, and not just a few, but bags.
For some reason, the more shells I saw, the more compelled I was to collect more.
My mom and I would take walks while my dad would swim in the waves and we took my bucket and gathered as many as we could.
Her strong hands ended up carrying even more than my bucket, but we enjoyed this adventure.
When I was a teen, I spent time in Sardegna, Italy where I dove endlessly and scooped up sea urchins, and big beautiful shells as we spent hours free diving 20-25 feet down collecting shells that not many would see otherwise.
My collection continued to prosper, and when I got married, my parents gladly offered to move the shells out of their home to mine and you can only imagine the eyeroll my husband had (lol)!
The Collection
Time progressed and so did my shell collection. From small containers I had to move the shells into large storage bins.
Then the unthinkable happened: my parents got a place by the beach and we spend a great deal of time there.
After all the blue skies, and clear water brings them to the beach daily.
The pristine waters of their beach area are second to none, and are relaxing to the mind and soul.
My mom has a few bowls of her own on display from her many walks on the beach, so my obsession and passion are hers as well (mother-to-daughter, tradition).
I love some of my moms shells so much, and we take them out of the bowl and look at them, as each one is special, unique and has its own story to tell.
Now again, thanks to their beach home, my collection has grown.The shells from their beach are often unusual, and unlike any others I have seen, so I have to have them, but I also had to get this habit under control.
The Jar
So now as I troll the beaches with my daughter (tradition) we use a jar.
The game goes like this: Before you can place a single shell in the jar, a shark’s tooth must be found and placed in the jar first.
Even if you see shell you have never seen, have to have, or really want, you may not place it in the jar unless the shark tooth is found first.
This kind of gives every other shell hunter the opportunity to grab those shells that we would have, but it also lessens the amount of shells we have packed into a jar.
Once a shark tooth is found, and placed in the jar, you can then load the jar at will, however, you must alternate who can place a shell in the jar, so that no one person gets to dominate the shell population.
We have made exceptions to the rule, but only with an additional option: Sometimes when we know there is no way we could ever find a shark’s tooth we allow the tooth to be subbed in for a piece of glass, which is also a harder item to come by.
The game is easy to play and allows us to frolic in the water, gather shells and enjoy time together!
Our shell gaining expeditions have not stopped, our tradition of ‘shelling’ is GAME -ON from the moment our feet touch the sand, we are just much more selective now.
Beaches are lots of fun, and strolling on a beach, filling a jar with those most prized finds is a great way to savor the flavor of your family vacation long after the summer days have passed.
Additionally the traditions created on the beach, the collecting of shells is passed on from person to person.
Have fun shelling this season, and we hope we find our shark tooth quickly this year!! ~ Dana