Capturing the Moment

The sun was shining, and the water was just right. Mason couldn’t believe he was at the beach. His entire life he had wanted to see the ocean. Up until now, he had only seen pictures of it or seen videos of it on television or the movies. Nothing compared to actually standing on the beach—his toes buried in the sand, the wind in his face, and the amazing smell of the ocean air. He was beginning to think he wouldn’t mind it if they never went back home to Kentucky.

“Mason, come see what I found,” his sister Lauren yelled. Mason walked over to Lauren and saw the tiny seashell she was holding in the palm of her hands. The shell was white with swirls of purple. There was not a blemish anywhere on the surface. It was the smallest shell he had ever seen.

“That’s really cool, Lauren. What are you going to do with it?”

“I wanted to take it home and show my friends, but I’m worried there might be a tiny creature inside. I wouldn’t want to hurt it just because I thought it had a pretty house, so I am going to put it back in the water.”

Mason knew how much Lauren wanted to save the shell. He could tell by the way she was looking at it so wistfully. Then he had an idea. “Hang on a minute, Lauren. Don’t throw it back into the water just yet.”

Mason ran over to the area where his mother and father were seated underneath a colorful umbrella. He dug inside one of the bags until he found what he was looking for and then hurried back over to meet his sister.

She grinned from ear to ear when she saw what he had brought. “Of course,” she said, “that’s a great idea!”

Mason pulled out the camera and took a picture of Lauren with her shell. Then he took several close-up pictures so they could remember all the swirls of color on the shell before Lauren placed the perfect shell back into the water. By the smile on Lauren’s face, he knew he had solved her problem. He just hoped pictures of the trip would be enough to remind him of how wonderful the beach really was.