Looking for treasures

At my second camp this year, I did a treasure hunt.  It was actually just a 4’ by 2’ box about 5 inches deep filled half full of sand and sprinkled with acrylic gems and various little treasures: small carved crosses and animals, drilled semi-precious stones, sea glass, small shells, pretty polished rocks, that sort of stuff. Once retrieved, the idea was to make it into a reminder of the camp and friendships and such. The kids really seamed to enjoy it and when we took it down, there was not a ‘treasure’ left in the sand box.

My time was so busy at camp –of course it was my own fault- that I didn’t really get to talk to them about the treasures as I planned.  But somehow, I think some of them got at least a little of what I intended: There are treasures all around us.  It is up to us to bring them into our lives and turn them into something important or to walk away and leave it behind.

Gifts of the Sea; Gifts of Time

(From my poems and processes page)

The water rolls across the sand

bringing treasures to my hand. 

The rhythmic flow will leave new gain

which only shortly will remain. 

My hand moves quickly to retrieve

the ones I see before they leave

and tumble back into the deep. 

But those I grab are mine to keep.

The minutes of my life move by

Exposing treasure to my eye

Laughter, friendship, creative tasks

Are here but moments and they pass.

I may choose to seize the chance

As time’s great waves recede, advance.

But if I leave treasure behind,

It’s gone, no longer to be mine.

And so the chance to love and help

A fitting word, a gift of self,

Sharing a meal, a listening ear,

A child’s dance, a neighbor’s tear.

Are strewn like jewels across time’s beach

The watchful heart need only reach.

But heedless, if we miss them here

On waves of time they disappear.

DW 2015

The above poem was finished after returning from North Carolina last week.  It’s been on my heart for awhile.

My granddaughter stays with me in the summer.  It’s a wild ride for sure.  My husband and I work in 2 camps and I maintain my studio for those who want summer classes.  She helps me make examples and books and generally opens up a bit more time for me to get it all done.  Yet this summer I became so aware that her presence here is a gift that is left in my view only a short time and then is sucked away.  Those moments will never reappear on my beach.  There will be others, but not the same.  This year I worked to try to set aside time for play and interaction that had nothing to do with ‘camp’.  It wasn’t an easy feat; I wasn’t always successful.  Sometimes I was gripey instead of fun.  Sometimes the ‘fun’ was contrived and rushed.  Yet I uncovered gems in the process and I hold them to my heart in memory.  I know I missed a lot of the best ones in the rush of waves of time and work.

Our trip to the cave, our visit to friends in Kentucky, our drive down to the beach and the sharing of life there, our time with our daughters and our son in law during the grueling process of a custody battle, all these are dropped on the beach by the waves of time.  We were very busy picking them up.  We missed other treasures, but the ones we have are precious.  It is a great warning and reminder to pick life up while you can.  You don’t know what it will drop at your feet or what it will jerk away never to be seen again.