When I wrote June’s Lace for my story in Beach Season, June had been searching for an intact black “Butterfly” shell but couldn’t find one. Every day she would leave her wedding dress design studio on the top floor of her blue cottage overlooking the Oregon coast and walk through the waves.

 

 

All the butterfly shells she found were broken. She would walk on the beach for miles and miles, always searching, and – nope – no black butterfly shell that wasn’t crushed or broken somewhere…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Searching for the perfect black butterfly shell came from my life, as some of the issues, situations, problems, story lines, curious details, quirky stuff, hilarious stuff, odd stuff, and adventures do….

I have been to the Oregon coast tons of times but have never been able to find an intact black butterfly shell. They were always broken, chipped, missing half of it, etc.

And I looked! All the time!

 

 

 

 

 

But, voila. Yesterday I had a day to escape. My son is in Texas with friends, my girls were at the beach on the northern coast of Oregon, also with friends, so I drove down to Lincoln City for what I call,  “Beach, Sand, and Sanity Time.”

I walked and walked, I laid on the sand, I watched the seagulls, admired the waves….And kept searching for that elusive black butterfly shell…

 

 

 

 

And, FINALLY, I found one! I couldn’t believe it…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later, after I ate clam chowder sitting on driftwood watching the white froth of the waves…and after I thought about friends and family and my next book, and a couple of worries, and a few funny things, and indulged in daydreaming…I walked again and I found….drum roll….a SECOND  intact black butterfly shell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know what that says…but it seems like a fantastic and splendid coincidence, that right after June’s Lace came out in Beach Season, I would FINALLY find black butterfly shells…

 

….just like June’s fiance found them for her and tucked them into her bridal bouquet…

 

 

 

 

 

I’m still smilin’.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s the tiny things that bring such joy to life, I think.

A sunny day, a walk on the beach, a perfect view of Mt. Hood, a “laughing lunch” with girlfriends, a hike in the woods, time alone to think, pizza with your kids.

And discovering something in nature after years of searching….

Happy day to you all.