'I Want To Age Like Sea Glass'

 

I want to age like sea glass

I want to age like sea glass. Smoothed by tides, not broken. I want the currents of life to toss me around, shake me up and leave me feeling washed clean. I want my hard edges to soften as the years pass—made not weak but supple. I want to ride the waves, go with the flow, feel the impact of the surging tides rolling in and out.

When I am thrown against the shore and caught between the rocks and a hard place, I want to rest there until I can find the strength to do what is next. Not stuck—just waiting, pondering, feeling what it feels like to pause. And when I am ready, I will catch a wave and let it carry me along to the next place that I am supposed to be.

I want to be picked up on occasion by an unsuspected soul and carried along—just for the connection, just for the sake of appreciation and wonder. And with each encounter, new possibilities of collaboration are presented, and new ideas are born.

I want to age like sea glass so that when people see the old woman I’ll become, they’ll embrace all that I am. They’ll marvel at my exquisite nature, hold me gently in their hands and be awed by my well-earned patina. Neither flashy nor dull, just a perfect luster. And they’ll wonder, if just for a second, what it is exactly I am made of and how I got to this very here and now. And we’ll both feel lucky to be in that perfectly right place at that profoundly right time.

I want to age like sea glass. I want to enjoy the journey and let my preciousness be, not in spite of the impacts of life, but because of them.

by Bernadette Noll  

I found this beautiful bottle stopper on the beach at Embleton in Northumberland. It was sitting there, sparkling in the sunshine, just waiting for me to pick it up. I love sea glass and pottery of all kinds, but was especially pleased with this find as the cork was still attached an intact. 

It reminded me of Bernadette Noll's poem which I have come across many times. The poem seemed particularly relevant as I am only a couple of weeks away from my 70th birthday, and have been thinking about the passing of time and ageing. 

I certainly feel I've been 'tossed around' and 'shaken up', but I'm not 'broken', or 'weak' and still, I hope, quite 'supple'! I've been 'stuck' several times in my life, but have always found the strength to move on. 

I look forward to the next decade and enjoying the 'journey'.

Writing prompts:

• Write about things you have found on the beach, or things you would like to find.
• Do you want to 'age like sea glass'? Write about how that might feel.
• How will you be when you are 'old'? Do you think people will embrace all that you are?  
• Think about a time in your life when you have been 'stuck'. Write about where you got the strength to move on.  
• Look again at the picture of the bottle stopper. Write a story or poem about it.