A Piece of Glass

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of words being there, written in invisible ink and clamouring to become visible.   - Vladamir Nabakov

Not too long ago, when my children were smaller, I took a walk along the shore with a friend, my children and my nieces.  As we walked, my children kept running to show me the treasures they had found.  But to my friend's surprise, what they hunted the most was the sea glass (or perhaps I should correctly call it lake glass).  My children and my nieces found beautiful bits in all colours...clear, red, blue, brown, ceramic...

With each piece of glass that they brought before me, they asked for the story of where it came from and how it arrived at the shore.  Examining each piece carefully, I would find it's story.  "For sure", I would say, "this one came from the telescope used by the captain.  There was a terrible storm, the captain was frantically searching for the lights of the shore, when his telescope dropped into the churning sea..."
"And this one came from the jewel of a necklace worn by a very fancy lady.  She was standing on the deck one windy night admiring the beautiful starry sky, when suddenly, the necklace came unclasped and slipped off into the dark water..."

As all the children dashed up and down the shoreline trying to find more and more pieces.  My friend turned to me and said, "I have never heard such things...where did you come up with these ideas?"
Surprised that she had never seen the same in the glass, too, I had to think.  Where did I come up with these ideas?  As I thought...I began to remember walking down the beaches of my own childhood...searching for pieces of glass. Then I remembered running to my mom to hear the story of the glass...
               ...at that moment...I began to wondered if perhaps she had run to her mother for the story of the glass, too?...

Next time you walk along the shore...if you find a piece of glass...look inside...and try to find it's story ...and see just that little bit more...