Saving Starfish by the Sea...

My daughter lives... I mean LIVES for the beach! She's not one to spend her time jumping waves but instead revels in the nature surrounding her. She spends her time along the jetty's and the tidal pools searching for all manner of sea life. She's the girl you see walking down the beach holding an enormous Conch Shell and you wonder to yourself, "How in the world did she find that?" Truth is, she worked over a half hour to squeeze herself into a small spot between the rocks and patiently worked to ease the shell out of a crevice so it wouldn't break. My daughter is nothing if not persistent! If however she finds that there is still a conch living within she'll return it to a safe crevice so it can go back to live as usual.

This year the beach presented her with the exhausting challenge of trying to relocate hundreds of starfish that had found themselves marooned along the jetty after the tide began to recede. My daughter and her friend decided it was their mission to ensure the safety of all the poor stranded creatures. In the process of their relocation efforts they gathered a small crowd of onlookers... Some who had never seen a real live starfish their entire lives! They taught several adults along the way about conservation and the importance of protecting the Starfish... Though I don't believe Starfish are in any way an endangered species. They admonished any folks who desired to walk away with one of the starfish. The girls determined that all of those dried starfish they had seen in the beach shops were just like the creatures they were trying to save but had been harvested for profit... And from now until the end of forever they would NEVER purchase a dried starfish.

I'm proud of my little girl... That day she held the rapt attention of many adults... Some of whom may have intended to walk away from that beach with a dying starfish but all of which watched, helped, questioned and became enchanted by the two young ladies who were teaching them about respecting nature.