Building Sandcastles

I have always been fascinated by the way my feet works in the sand – how the loose sand flies everywhere when I walk and how the compact ones create hollows that marks my way. I am spending so much time at the beach this summer I can barely recognize my old skin tone – it’s like I’ve already taken off my tank but it’s still there!

However, it is interesting how I almost always skip building sandcastles on the shore. Somehow, it feels awkward, almost wrong, to try and build something majestic out of the coarse, fragile existence of the sand. There is always the possibility that it will collapse, and no matter the effort I put in, it will always be the most vulnerable thing in the world.

But I realized I am looking at it from the wrong standpoint. Instead of sulking at the failure of my sandcastle to stand its ground, it should be fine, since I could always build a new one, after all, the act of constructing its majesty, piece by piece, is by far more fun than just staring at the end product.

I figured that even when sandcastles can really be fragile, there are some things you can do to it to help it stand its ground, like finding the right mix of coarse and compact sand, or finding the right structure. It does not have to be one awful thing after the other. After all, tumble down it will, I can always build and rebuild, for the beach is full of coarse, fragile sand that will find more meaning if I take the effort to do something of and about it – plus, I can always wash my hand clean of it after, so it can’t be bad.