Generations

I can’t help but smile every time I see this picture. Not only is my granddaughter enjoying time with her great grandmother but they are also enjoying my parent’s place in Naples like our families have done for years. Most importantly my mom is handing down the fine art of crafting with shells. For 40 plus years we have been gathering shells on the beach not just for the fun of shelling but also for the fun that comes later, after the shells have been cleaned and dried. Why have a box of shells when we could create something beautiful? Right?

Morning shelling and swimming in the Gulf turned into afternoon crafting many days in our younger years. My sisters and friends and I created art with my mom, then my kids did and now my grandchildren. We’ve made everything from jewelry to lamps, mirrors and canvas scenes. We’ve used driftwood mixed with shells and sand. We’ve textured with tissue and incorporated the art of macrame. We’ve kept pieces all natural or painted shells to the taste of the artist. We have found beauty in the perfect and the broken, in the scarred and the seaweed stained and in the unusual. We’ve learned to look for the possibilities.

My mom is not just artistic but smart. Crafting kept us busy and also protected us from too much sun. It gave her time to do a little painting of her own and the opportunity to pass along lessons that had nothing to do with what was directly in front of us, such as not wasting anything and how to make good choices. Believe me, she was not always talking about the shells. Generations have now been included in not only the art of shelling and crafting but also the gift of advice from Nonna. Nothing that we truly believe passed down to us as gift should be kept hidden in a shoe box or in our hearts and minds. The older generations are needed to pass on their words of advice, wanted or not. Keeping these young ones occupied with their hands while filling their minds helps to nourish and to show love. Our children need to be filled with all that natural goodness. Our world needs what the generations before us have to offer so we can continue to create something beautiful here, to help build up the Kingdom of God and to give protection and show the importance of love and trust and forgiveness. Oh the possibilities!