Agates Are A Girl's Best Friend.....Not.

It was supposed to be a prep weekend.  It was supposed to be two days without errands that I could spend getting ready for a kind of unexpected trip.  I had four days to get ready, and it was going to take me one just to get all of my lists together so I would know how to spend the other three.

I was cleaning.

Washing clothes.

Packing clothes.

Configuring airplane bags.

Planning errands that would need to be run.

Finding library books that would need to be returned.

Who's going to water the plants?

Who's going to get the mail and the paper?

Who's driving us to the airport?

The chicks?  No.  I'm not worrying about the chicks.  Let Prince Farming worry about the chicks.  I have all this other stuff to worry about.....like, was I going to get it all done in time?

And the Prince says, "Hmmmm.....I think we should head to the beach."

Ssssscccccrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeecccchhhh

I almost had to swerve into an oncoming list to avoid crashing right into him and smashing his beach to smithereens.  But, being the awesomely killer wife that I am, I shifted my lists a bit, and we hit the road.  Fine.

We get there and, of course, he's instantly out walking the shore.  It used to be that we would all go out hunting for shells and sand dollars.  But, really, that's sooooooo last summer.  Now, it's all about the agates.  I associate hunting for agates on the beach with doing a 750 piece puzzle.  It's not so hard that you go crazy trying to fit one piece in, but it's hard enough to feel like a bit of challenge.  And when you do find one, you get excited.

I've been in a bit of an agate slump lately.  I haven't found one for the last three visits.  Which was fine with me.  It's not a competition, you know.  It's supposed to be fun.  It's not supposed to make you feel like a total loser because everyone else is finding them, and you can't spot one. 

One. 

One little, transparent, volcanic rock along the shore.

"Hey!  Look at this!" I shout, excitedly showing my son my treausre.

"That's just a rock, Mom.  We've already found lots like that.".....and he tossed it on the ground!

"What about this one?  It kind of looks like tiger stripes," I say, showing my daughter a cool orange and black rock.

"It's a rock, Mom.  Rocks aren't tigers."  Nag, nag, nag.....She's such a stickler for detail. 

I thought I found one.  "Ask Daddy if this is an agate," I tell my son.

"It doesn't look like it."

"Just go ask him."

"Mom.  I know he's going to say 'no'."

"Look, kid.  I am your mother.  I gave you life by way of 19 hours of labor and I've never asked for anything in return other than for you to go over and ask your father if this is an agate.  Now, do it!"....and he rolled his eyes at me!

"He says it's not.  I told you," he tells me when he returns.  "But, look at the one I found!".....Twerp.

And on and on and on, until.....I found one!!!!!!

Here it is closer, in case you blinked and missed it the first time.

I showed it to the Prince.

"Niiiiiiccccceeee," he cheered.  "Everyone clap for Mom.  She found an agate."

I'm pretty sure he was making fun of my teeny, tiny, pea-sized agate, but I didn't care.  My agate slump was over!  I found one....I found one!!  La-la-la-la-la-la......

Oh!  Look!  I found another one....and there's another one!

All told, I found four agates that day.  This is what our pile looked like before....

 

Now, imagine my four on top.  I didn't want to add them on and make anyone else feel bad, since I found...you know....FOUR!  I tried to get everyone to call me The Agate Queen for the rest of the weekend, but no one would go for it.

Whatever.  I know the truth.

Long Live The Agate Queen!!!

Oh, and P.S....because I haven't told you lately.....I love ya'!

L.