I am thankful for the built-in prompts for reflection in our calendar. I love the way they pull me in, sit me down, give me good excuse to rewind the tapes, remember, and say something.

Many favorite memories from this year in Florida, but I love this one: finally taking some time to do something I wanted to do since I got the fun little macro lens for my camera phone: get some up-close glimpses of beach shells. This was our anniversary, I remember now, and a day of exploring a new place, of dreaming about living on the beach (or as close as we can afford), someday soon. Of celebrating our love and life together. And we picked up beautiful, often broken things left by the surf and tide until our hands were over-full: so much like our hearts and days together.

And the surface of the shells, so surprising at this distance: grains of sand become individuals with this thing, my fingerprint becomes a map I can actually read at this level. The color of some shells blanched and unremarkable when you get too close. Others popping and delightful in the late-day light. But it was the light, the light coming through the shells that was the most stunning to me, in the end. And how am I surprised by that, again?