*If you prefer to listen to this article, the audio recording can be found here.
I absolutely love the ocean. The saltwater seems to be in my blood, coursing through my veins with every beat of my heart. I am enamored by the sound of the waves, the feel of the sand beneath my feet, and even the taste of the water when it inevitably slaps me in the face. See, I love to sit at the edge of the surf where all of the shells gather up and poke through them, looking for beautiful shells to take home. Please don't ask me how many shells are at my house. This number is entirely irrelevant, and frankly none of your business. Unless you want to ooh and aah at my collection, in that case, come on over for some key lime pie and we will admire my shells together.
When we moved back to my hometown and started going to the beach more regularly, I became determined to find a shell that is coveted by most avid shellers: a Junonia. Ah, yes, the elusive and illustrious Junonia. A cream-colored shell with neat lines of lovely brown dots, whose numbers on the beach are few. In social media groups, you often see several people a day posting that they have found one, usually on a shelling excursion captained by folks who know just where to take their paying customers out on boats to look for them. Junonia's are sea snails that prefer to live on the ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico and are usually found right here in Southwest Florida. Our very own Sanibel Island is boasted as the place where you are most likely to discover yours, although they are found all along the SWFL Gulf Coast. Junonia snails tend to live far out in the water, around 50-90 feet below the surface, so when their empty shells wash up, it is often after a large storm such as a hurricane. The average size of a Junonia is between 2 and 4 inches in length, so they aren't always easily spotted, either. It isn't quite as simple as a great big horse conch rolling up in the surf and whacking you in the ankle. Eureka! A beach treasure and a battle scar all in one! No, the Junonia club is far more exclusive than that, much to the chagrin of shellers everywhere. But isn't the rarity of a thing what makes it so special?
A couple of years ago, I discovered an author who writes cozy mysteries about a character who lives on Sanibel Island. This character is a shelling enthusiast, and the first book in the series tells the tale of a murder based on jealousy. What was the object of said jealousy, you may ask? A massive “golden Junonia”, of course! A Shell of a Problem by Jennifer L Schiff is a great beach read, and I highly recommend this series, especially if you love Sanibel Island, or plan to visit someday. The protagonist, Guinevere Jones, always seems to find herself in the middle of a crime investigation on the small island she calls home. The locations mentioned in the books are all real, and it can be a fun way to find new places to shop and eat on the island! In the books, fictional Guin can often be found shelling on the beach at daybreak, calling for the sea gods to send her a Junonia to find. I haven't finished the series, but I have a sneaking suspicion that she will eventually find her coveted shell. I end up doing the same sort of thing when we go to the beach. I will half-jokingly call out, “Lord, please send me a Junonia today!” I also tell my kids, “Find Mama a Junonia!” We always laugh and have a great beach day, no matter what oceanic treasures we bring home--if any at all. I keep my eyes peeled, but I also know that I will find a Junonia when the time is right. It could be next week, next month, or next decade, but I'm sure that it will happen eventually. I hope.
Recently we went to Captiva Island to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday. Captiva Island is a smaller island separated from Sanibel by a very tiny channel of water. There is a bridge, and you could swim it if you dared, as the channel is very slim. (Please don't do this, however. The current is strong here, and sharks naturally love to hang out around bridges for an easy snack of their favorite fish.) The water was an incredible shade of blue, and the weather was perfect in every way! As has become my habit, I made my little Junonia announcement, my family laughed, and we played to our hearts' content. We found that there was a gorgeous mound of shells all up and down the waterline, so I did what I usually do, and I plunked myself down to dig around. As is common, dolphins frequented the beach, always dazzling beach-goers. Uncommonly, as I gazed out over the surface of the water in search of wildlife, my eyes caught a creature leaping from the blue! It is normal to see little fish jumping out of the surf, but this was different. Quite close to shore, a large stingray had taken a flying leap, breaching the surface and flapping its wings as if to take flight; its long tail seemed to dance in the sunlight as it momentarily suspended in the air! It landed with a mighty slap on the water and was gone. It doesn't matter how long you have lived by the ocean, the presence of such majestic creatures is always thrilling! As I sat and dug through the piles of shells around me like a happy toddler, the sounds of joy coming from my family playing in the waves just a few feet from me brought me so much peace. I never feel more like myself than when I am at the beach (or at Disney World!). As I picked out shell after shell to take home, I came across one that I had not found before. It was small, about an inch and a half in length, and a creamy white with beautiful yellow-brown markings in neat rows. I looked closely in the bright sun, immediately recognizing that this was not a shell I had found before. I have found lots of lovely lightning whelks, various kinds of augers, olives, several kinds of conchs, pieces of banded tulips, murexes, and more, but this one was a new find for me. I scrambled from my seat on the wave line to get to my phone. Was it what I thought it was? Darn. The sun was too bright against my phone's screen to confirm for myself via an internet search, so I snapped a photo and uploaded it to a SWFL shelling group on Facebook, and in moments comments began to confirm my initial suspicion: I had found an alphabet cone in perfect condition! While these aren't nearly as rare as the Junonia, they are considered fairly rare, and are also a coveted find by most shellers! I assure you, that the moment I realized I might have something fantastic, I screeched out, “I think I have an alphabet cone!” My family probably exchanged some confused looks and shrugged. They aren't as interested in the names of shells as I am. The confirmations and many congratulations I received from strangers on the internet had me doing a little jig in the sand, not caring one iota who might be watching! An alphabet cone snail is, much like the Junonia snail, a carnivorous sea creature that lives along the shores of SWFL. (There are other varieties all over the world, however.) The alphabet snail is poisonous, and stings its prey before consuming it, but humans aren't often at risk as long as they are careful when grabbing one from the shallows. In other parts of the world, different sub-species of this snail are deadly to humans, but the one found here in SWFL usually feels like a bee sting. The markings on this shell range anywhere from a dark yellow to a chocolate brown, and can often take the shape of—you guessed it—letters of the alphabet! Some collectors boast such large collections that they possess each letter of the alphabet, numbers, and even short words on their shells! As the snail grows, the markings become more prominent and lovely. Even small shells such as mine have exquisite markings that will have you studying the shell closely in admiration.
See, here's something that this new treasure has reminded me of: As children of God, we know that He has good plans for us! Our Father gives us good gifts, and like kids at Christmas, we go to Him with a list of things that we want. The things on our list might be really important. They might be trivial. But that doesn't matter to Him. He loves making us happy! Don't you love seeing the smiles on your kids' faces when you bring a plate of warm cookies into the living room? He feels the same way! So many times, we ask Him for something incredibly specific, and we might get disappointed when He gives us something else. I had been telling God that I didn't even care if I found a broken piece of Junonia shell, I would be happy with anything He brought to me. But what He gave me instead was an incredible promise: His gifts sometimes look different than our requests, but they are perfect! I didn't get a broken gift; trash instead of treasure. I got one that was, in my opinion, prize-worthy. It was small, but guess what? The Lord knows that I have an affinity for tiny conch or sea snail shells; they always feel like this incredible and delicate treasure! He showed me that my humility in asking for a crumb from His table wasn't what He wanted for me. He wanted a good gift for me! Now, am I giving up on finding a Junonia? Absolutely not! I have lots of shell finds on my list, and it is one of those top-tier goals. Lots of people say that you don't find a Junonia, a Junonia finds you. I think that is a great reflection of God's gifts to us. We don't know when they are coming, but He knows when the perfect time for each gift is, whether it's one we had asked for, or one we haven't even thought of yet!
Hope deferred makes the heart sick...Proverbs 13:12
Don't get so deferred by a hope that hasn't come to pass yet that you become heartsick in your waiting season. Hold onto your hope, and be ready for the blessings that you didn't expect in the meantime! He makes everything beautiful in His timing. And if you decide to take up shelling as a hobby, or you are already a collector, remember that each treasure is one to be admired and loved, broken or whole. See you on the beach, friends! Until then...stay salty.
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