In the midst of a stressful day, when I was making life more complicated than it needed to be, I took time out and went down to the beach. As I sat on the sand watching the waves roll in, a little girl in a bright blue swim suit ran up to show me her hand full of sand crabs. While the small creatures scurried to find shelter between her tiny fingers the little girl engaged me in a lively conversation. We talked about the sand crabs, a shell she had found, the color of waves and the name of her baby brother who was toddling across the shore while her mother tried to keep an eye on both of them.
The little girl was so enamored by the ocean that I wondered if she was a tourist.
“Where do you live? I asked.
She tilted her head, crinkled her freckled nose and looked at me as if I had asked the silliest question she had ever heard.
“I live in my house.” She replied.
Of course you do, I thought. It didn’t matter what city or state she was from. She lived in her home. A place I imagined she was well loved and nurtured. A place that supported her spirit in such a way that walking up to a lady on the beach to share the discoveries of the sea was a perfectly okay thing to do. She didn’t need to make life any more complicated than that.
My favorite teachers are children. And if you ever need to de-stress your day, just ask a child about sand crabs.