We took a chance in the middle of the pandemic. During a frigid month in Michigan, Tim and I decided to celebrate our 30th Anniversary with an impromptu trip to the beautiful island of St. Lucia, West Indies. We had not traveled in over a year and were a bit shell-shocked by the abrupt return to the wider world. We arrived at the Windjammer Landings resort near Castries at the north end of the island for a week in paradise. The weather was perfect, the resort and service were outstanding. The strangest part was being quarantined at the resort for the week due to COVID restrictions. I was a captive audience.
I laughed at myself for traveling thousands of miles to do the same thing I always do at home, walk the beach! My walk consisted of a half-mile stretch of warm sand, bordered on each end by cliffs of lava rock. Along the rugged north end of the beach, I was shocked to see large chunks of white coral nestled among the rocks. Saddened by the proof of our warming oceans, I was also fascinated by the similarity of this recent coral fossil to the ancient Petoskey stones I find on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Petoskey stones date back to the Devonian era nearly 350 million years ago. They are actually bits of colonial coral that have been fossilized in the warm Michigan seas. Hexagonaria is the specific name given to this type of fossil, coined by Dr. Edwin Stumm in 1969 because of the fossil’s pattern of six-sided figures.
Will these fresh coral skeletons be someone else’s collectible fossils in 350 million years? What is now sea may become land as our world continues to rearrange itself over the millennia. What a tiny speck my lifespan is on this huge planet spinning around for millions of years. I’m torn between feeling personally responsible for our environment during my short time on this earth, and the enormity of the evolving eras on the planet. These thoughts also remind me not to take myself quite so seriously. This too shall pass. I take some solace from a quote by Edward Everett Hale.
“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
For this reason, I will continue to pick up Trash and Treasure in Equal Measure, reuse, recycle and do my tiny part to care for our world. Enjoy these treasures from the shores of St. Lucia!
