ballad of a sea star

My favorite animal (sometimes in rotation with the Orangutang and the pot bellied pig) is the sea star, or common star fish. It's not a claim that I take lightly - I'm not one of those people (yes, THOSE people) who see a sea star and say, "hey, a sea star", and then continue on my journey down the beach. I actually really care about those little guys. What more, I'm absolutly fascinated with them. Watching a sea star could keep me occupied for hours. The following are things that I especially like about sea stars (I feel like I'm writing a grade three report, but bear with me here)

- the way their bodies are soft and mushy when they're attached to a rock, but firm up if you peel them off
- the way their feelers drift over your fingers when you pick them up
- how peaceful and non-confrontational they are
- how beautiful they are
- how they slowly hug your hand if you hold them still enough
- how nice they are to spend time with

Yes, I'm being dead serious. I actually love them. A few summers ago when Marcus and I were at my grandmother's house on Vancouver Island for a few weeks, we piggy-backed the girls (my sisters, then 9 and 7) down to the beach, climbed down the cliff, and made it to the ocean just as the tide was starting to go out. We all rolled up the cuffs to our pants and spent the entire afternoon 'saving' sea stars that were stranded on rocks when the tide left. We named each one that we found, and made a wish as we threw it out to sea. It's one of my fondest memories ever.

The reason I bring it up is because it occured to me that it would be really nice to have a starfish necklace to wear. I'm not a big jewelery person --what I mean, I guess, is that I have two or three pieces that are really nice, to wear for important occasions, but I don't like to buy a lot of junky stuff-- but I would love to have something that I wore every day, and something that was MEANINGFUL to me. And although Steve said it wouldn't exist, I found this:


It costs more money than I will ever, ever be able to afford, but I feel good just thinking about it. I can put it on my "ultimate wish list", where it will trump both my desire to get braces and to own an ipod (look at how materialistic Queen's has made me!)

I guess this all came up because I saw a stuffed animal of a starfish at Shoppers Drug Mart today and against my better judgement, I didn't buy it for myself. But I thought to myself, all the way home, that it would be nice to have a star fish of my own. For now, the pictures that I keep on my desk top, like this one, will have to do.