Sea Glass

Have you ever seen something and then once you see it, you can’t “unsee” it? I was that way with sea glass. Sea glass, or beach glass, or even, for the more romantically inclined, mermaids’ tears, is glass that sits in the ocean (usually) being churned by the waves against rocks or sand for a period of time until it washes up on shore, frosty and smooth-edged. For years upon years I walked by it on numerous beach vacations and never even noticed. I knew of its existence, but I guess I was just so focused on other things that the sea glass escaped me.

Then, I moved to our island and one day, for whatever reason, I noticed a piece. And once I noticed a piece, really saw it for what it was, suddenly I saw pieces everywhere. It’s funny how that works. Now, I can hardly go to the beach without seeing at least one piece.

In fact, it’s almost a point of irritation for me when I go running. Normally, I love collecting sea glass. I have little sandwich bags of it hidden in nooks all around the house, waiting for the day when I will do something with them. Which I will eventually, but given that I’m not really the crafty sort, this will take time. Anyway, when I go on my infrequent runs, done mainly for the purpose of being able to say that I run, since it somehow makes me feel like a person of a slightly higher quality, I inevitably stumble on a piece of sea glass despite my speed (or lack thereof, as LCB is quick to point out).

This poses two challenges. First, I must navigate through the swoop-down-and-grab-it-without-stopping-and-thus-decreasing-my-heart-rate move that’s required, which also must be executed without falling, a challenge of large proportions giving my klutzy nature. In fact, now that I think about it, I imagine I’ve given some people sitting out on their decks drinking their morning coffee a good laugh on more than once occasion in my failed execution of the aforementioned move. Second, once I’ve secured the glass, I must carry the piece in my hand for the rest of my run, as I don’t run with pockets. (The way I just worded that almost sounds like a moral stance or something. It’s not, just for clarification here. I’m in no way against pockets. Well, actually that’s not true. I’m highly against them when they add the look of 10 pounds to my hips.)

Here are some of the colors that I typically find in my searches.

White is the most common color in my experience. One of my favorite colors is the faintly bluish-greenish colored glass on the right in the second picture. It’s hard to tell from my pictures, but it’s quite attractive in its subtlety in real life.

You can buy sea glass like this if you don’t feel like collecting it yourself. The upside is you can often select your colors, whereas if you collect it yourself, you get whatever colors you find. Some colors are less common than others.The royal blue glass, for instance, in my experience is exceedingly rare. However, much of what you will buy in the store, like this bag I bought at a shop on my island, is imitation sea glass, which means it has a slightly different look to it. If you are new to sea glass, you may not see the difference. If you are accustomed to it, however, it will likely stand out to you. The frosted look of the glass is just a little different. Depending on your plans for the glass, this may or may not matter to you.

Some people are hard-core sea glass collectors, with rating systems for things like the color and quality of the glass. I am not hard-core, although I suspect I could be, given the right circumstances. It’s really just something I do for amusement for a few minutes here and there when I’m on the beach.

It has, however, become a mild point of contention between my baby-girl and me. She, apparently, thinks I’m her personal sea glass collector. She likes to walk with me while I look, which I love, but then when I find a piece, she begs me to let her add it to her collection. This I would gladly do if I knew that the alleged collection did in fact exist. However, her “collection” is a group of things that usually disappear into the deep recesses of her room and never reappear. I’ve tried various search and rescue missions, which without exception have been dismal failures.

Besides, she is four now. Doesn’t that make her more than old enough to collect her own sea glass, thanks so much? What’s she learning in preschool anyway? And so what if her mother was well, well into adulthood before she began collecting her own sea glass. Isn’t the next generation supposed to advance?

Okay, now it’s time for a totally random question here. Has anyone ever experienced or heard of a roofing specialist actually falling through the roof into your/someone’s house while installing a new roof? I’m curious, because we’re having our roof redone this week, and I swear it sounds like any second a burly roof guy is going to come tumbling through my ceiling. Seriously, I finished my shower in record speed this morning when the pounding started directly overhead mid-shower.

Let me know, in case I need to make preparations. Whatever those might be.