Prisms

My junior year of college was a  rough one. When spring break rolled around I needed an escape. While most of my friends were venturing to Cabo San Lucas or Miami for a wild week, I went a completely different route and headed to Virginia Beach...with my mom. Not exactly what most college students would picture as their idea of a fun vacation. It turned out to be the most relaxing getaway I can ever remember. There was absolutely no agenda. We spent the week reading & walking on the beach, dining on fabulous seafood and sleeping with the balcony door open to enjoy the sound of the waves.

We also explored several little boutique shops, my favorite of which was full of beads. The walls were lined with tiny drawers, each one housing a different bead. I felt like I was on a treasure hunt as I walked around the store, pulling out each drawer and discovering its content. I've never been very good at making jewelry, but I've always had a love for beads. There are so many different shapes, sizes, colors, styles and materials. I fell in love with a few beads, but couldn't really justify buying them since I had no purpose for their use. As we were leaving, we passed a display case that held shelves and shelves of gorgeous prisms. They were beautiful. As is almost always the case with me, I couldn't settle on just one.  I asked the cashier to hold two for me and I hurried back to the little drawers, this time with purpose. I bought enough of the beads I'd previously coveted to string with the prisms.

I'm not sure why, but those beads and prisms sat unused in a drawer...until yesterday. One of my child development books said that little ones love prisms. When I read that, I remembered seeing the little plastic bag of prisms and beads when I reorganized my crafting supplies a few weeks ago. I dug them out, strung them on some fishing line and hung them in the living room windows where we get plenty of early morning sun. When I got the baby up for the day, the living room was full of dancing rainbows. The walls, floors and furniture were polka-dotted with them. Her face lit up and her little eyes danced from one speckle to another. After breakfast, still mesmerized with the new addition to our decor, she crawled across the floor and tried to pick the spots of color up in her hands. Watching her play, laugh and shriek with enjoyment at something so simple takes me back to that vacation and to that bead shop. The trip was none too wild, but sometimes those chances to slow down, relax & discover can be just as exciting.