Every time I start making a list about how devastating the oil spill is to the Gulf Coast, I get so overwhelmed and start to feel like someone I love dearly has died. You know that weight you get on your chest when sadness comes. We visited the coast in April. My little one kicked up her heels in the chilly waters. The beaches had never been prettier. We walked on the beach in Long Beach and Bay St, Louis. The sand was so clean having been scrubbed by big machines after Katrina. We find seashells that have been scrubbed smooth and seem chalky. I never want to keep them, because they don't look like real shells anymore. The girls bring them home anyway and I'll find them in my car or in the bottom of a tote bag. They think any seashell is pretty, but I have other ideas about the caliber of shell I want to go in my shell basket. I would give anything for those white chalky shells now.
