April is national poetry month… a month to read, write, and cherish poetry.

My friend Cybele posted this poem on Facebook, it’s from a fitting room door in a shop on Sanibel Island. (which by the way, when I googled, is now on my list of places to visit). It was written by Bernadette Noll.

Poem found on fitting room door, Sanibel Island

I want to enjoy the journey and always remember that if you give the ocean something breakable it will turn it into something beautiful.

Last night when I got home from work, I arrived to the devastating news that Notre Dame was burning. At first I didn’t believe it, or thought that it was a minor fire that could be put out. But then I watched the news and my heart sank. I remembered back to my Europe trip with my girlfriends, and how much I loved that old gothic majestic, beautiful cathedral, how it’s gargoyles jutted out into the sky, and the spire transcended time. It was a beauty I took for granted, and it’s so sad to see it fall to ashes. I’m hoping that it will be restored to its original beauty, perhaps in a different form, but still in its place.

14 thoughts

    1. Hello-

      My Aunt Leslie found this poem on Facebook through a friend. We had no idea where this came from. It This poem was so beautiful and described my Father to a tee. My father was an avid collector of Sea glass his entire life. I shared many afternoons walking on the beaches of Fire Island, New York looking for sea glass with him as child. At 91 years old he has a collection of thousands of pieces.
      Sadly, last week my precious, beautiful Dad passed away. My Uncle Allan read this poem at his funeral yesterday. On behalf of me and my family we would like thank Bernadette for writing this poem and contributing to the beauty of my Dad’s ceremony.
      Sincerely, Jamie L. Kerner and family.

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      1. Hi Jamie,
        Thank you for sharing this beautiful experience. I’m so very sorry for your loss. Your father sounded like such a magical person…and how amazing that he left behind thousands of pieces of sea glass!!! I can only imagine how fitting Bernadette’s poem was for him at his funeral… sometimes these things come to us at just the right moments.
        Mita

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  4. I Want to Age Like Sea Glass
    Bernadette Noll
    ,
    Contributor
    Writer, author, maker and co-founder of Slow Family Living

    As I hit 49…

    I want to age like sea glass. Smoothed by tides, not broken. I want the currents of life to toss me around, shake me up and leave me feeling washed clean. I want my hard edges to soften as the years pass — made not weak, but supple. I want to ride the waves, go with the flow, feel the impact of the surging tides rolling in and out.

    When I am thrown against the shore and caught between the rocks and a hard place, I want to rest there until I can find the strength to do what is next. Not stuck — just waiting, pondering, feeling what it feels like to pause. And when I am ready, I will catch a wave and let it carry me along to the next place that I am supposed to be.

    I want to be picked up on occasion by an unsuspected soul and carried along — just for the connection, just for the sake of appreciation and wonder. And with each encounter, new possibilities of collaboration are presented, and new ideas are born.

    I want to age like sea glass so that when people see the old woman I’ll become, they’ll embrace all that I am. They’ll marvel at my exquisite nature, hold me gently in their hands and be awed by my well-earned patina. Neither flashy nor dull, just the right luster. And they’ll wonder, if just for a second, what it is exactly I am made of and how I got to be in this very here and now. And we’ll both feel lucky to realize, once again, that we have landed in that perfectly right place at that profoundly right time.

    I want to age like sea glass. I want to enjoy the journey and let my preciousness be, not in spite of the impacts of life, but because of them.

    Sent from my iPhone

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  5. How or where can I get a copy of this to place on a mirror or wall. I love it. Any help is appreciated.

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