by Edie Summers

Created on: December 22, 2008   Last Updated: February 10, 2009

Gifts from the Sea...

I spent a few weeks on the East Coast of Florida this summer, where I was spending time with my parents. My dad was recovering from esophageal cancer.

He was stage four and really sick when I arrived, but started doing much better after we made some changes in his diet (cultured foods, superfoods, protein shakes, and herbs). I also did some energy work on him and we moved a lot of toxins out from his last rounds of chemotherapy.

There is a Dolphin Conservation Center in Marineland, which is about a mile up from where they live. I got into the habit of walking up there at sunrise every morning either along the beach or road, depending on high tide. My first morning I didn't make it very far because it was mid-tide on the beach and I was thoroughly distracted by the gorgeous beach and tons of shells.

With my eyes trained below me I saw the imprint of a large starfish buried in the sand, waiting for high tide. It felt like I had struck gold. This was my first time finding one. It was orange, blue, beautiful, and unreal looking. I immediately thought to take it home so my dad could see.

I carried it on my water bottle up the shore in the hot sun. The wind was blowing and kept knocking the starfish off my water bottle. Each time it fell on the sand my intuition would say, "leave it here." But I wanted my dad to experience the wonder of it so I would pick it up and place it back on my
bottle.

After while it started wrapping its arms around the neck of the bottle. When the wind knocked if off my bottle right before I reached the condo I picked it up and broke one of its arms. I started to panic. I felt for sure I had made a mistake bringing it home.

My mom and I immediately put it in water, and I brought it in to show my dad. He was thrilled and said he hadn't seen one in years. I then high-tailed it out to the ocean and put it into the growing high tide.

I promised myself that if I were ever lucky enough to find another one, I would kiss it, make a wish, and send it back to the sea where it belongs. I don't regret showing it to my father, but I had tried to hard to hold onto the experience of it, when it was clear where it was the starfish was meant to stay.

The next morning, I made a silent wish again that I would have the opportunity to find another starfish. Since I had never found one before it seemed like a long shot. Within minutes of being on the beach I found a baby starfish right in my path.

I picked it up and it immediately started squirming.

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