Dependable and surprising every time. Kind of like a good friend! 

Two friends frolicking on a beach at sunrise.  They were surrounded by nature; it was literally oozing through their toes, blowing their hair, filling their lungs with salty air, and the sounds . . . of the waves, the wind and the giggles; pure joy.  A moment to freeze in a photo.   

A beach has the rhythm built in, the waves, high tide, low tide, sunrise, sunset, over and over; its constant repetition is dependable, yet no two waves, tides, sunrises or sunsets are the same; they surprise us. Maybe that’s a reason why so many of us are drawn to the beach. Aside from its beauty, it is dependable and surprising every time.   Kind of like a good friend.

I took this photo years ago on a trip to the Bahamas that our family took with Families in Nature; a nonprofit that provides adventures in nature, experiences with field science, and develops as youth conservation leaders. We were up before the sun and the kids were ready for exploring. I used a photolithography technique to transfer the black and white image of the girls jumping onto a slab of clay that I had painted with colors of the sunrise and beach. Next, I cut dots from the slab and hand-drilled holes in them. After two kiln firings, I strung the dots on paracord to make adjustable bracelets. Each dot is a small piece of the larger picture, just like we are all small pieces of a larger picture.