preview

Collecting Starfish Essay

Decent Essays

Triumphantly, we stand side by side, grinning widely as our anxious parents snap pictures to appease us and then hurry us away to tend to our battered appendages. Each one of us sprouts some wound or another—a bloodied knee or elbow, bruised toe, bitten finger, or a large sunburn. Some of us are on the verge of dehydration. We have chosen a rough playground, but we love it dearly.

Two hours before low tide, we had migrated to the beach, carrying nothing except plastic buckets. With little patience for the group of parents who followed sluggishly behind, bearing towels, water, sunscreen, lunch, and other such useless items, we of young spirit pushed excitedly ahead along the dirt path.

Once on the beach, the adults watched us with …show more content…

This annual tradition of ours is much more than a simple scavenger hunt. Rather, it is an opportunity to unite as a team—to forget the differences in age and the pressures that come with them. We work together, we climb together, we fall together—no one is left behind. Any parent who chooses to engage in our hunt is immediately swept back into the realm of youth and boundless energy.

With untiring enthusiasm, we harvested the rocks for our five-legged friends. Many a star was rehydrated from the drying heights or rescued from the perils of a hungry crab. We marveled at the sight of a starfish engulfing a mussel and grieved for the unfortunate sea star who had lost a limb in some unknown encounter.

The frigid water burned our feet and hands, and the hot sun scalded our backs. Before long, nearly everyone had misjudged the stableness of the seaweed and had slid down the barnacle-covered rocks which were hidden beneath.

For those who choose not to participate, our quest seems foolhardy and unnecessarily strenuous. How little they understand what an utter relief it is to have your only concerns involve the collection of stars. For a scant few hours, work, school, and all the stresses of life simply melt away with the rhythmic beating of the icy waters. We are free to amble about the stars—collecting them and admiring their peaceful perfection.

As the tide washed back over the rock-laden beach, we were forced to

Get Access