October 19, 2019

by drplasticpicker

I had a fitful night of sleep, racing thoughts about life and work and broken relationships. Since beginning this journey on ocean plastic picking, my sleep has been much better but life happens and sleep is a time to process things. Weekend mornings I have more time to wander along the beach, and mother nature seemed to be mirroring life. The sun was rising. The waves were fierce and powerful. Foaming waves crescendoing and crashing into its neighbor. The ocean expanding and contracting along the shore.

Along with the strength of the water, I noticed the rose hues along the horizon. There was beauty in the tumult of the waves, but also the sky above. As I was searching for candy wrappers and deflated balloon remnants intertwined in the kelp, I saw a beautiful piece of sea glass with a perfect handle that was nestled in the smooth packed sand along the ocean’s edge.

This sea glass must have been floating for a while, and the journey had smoothed out it’s jagged edges. It is quite beautiful in its new form.

I also found a pair of glasses.

Someone along this same stretch of beach had lost their glasses. I was chatting with an older friend regarding my emotional tumult, and he reminded me the importance of friendship and what I thought was broken does not need to be. For me, my plastic picking journey has made me see life more clearly. Indeed a found pair of glasses, quite prophetic. What looked like a broken piece of glass with jagged edges, is really a beautiful piece of sea glass. I come looking for plastic thinking I am healing the earth, but I often come away with hope and dreams of the world as I want it to be and the ability to see things more clealy and heal myself.