It’s so easy to wax philosophical while walking on the beach, it seems almost cliche.

But I love cliches!

Eric and I are settling in to our chaotic existence down at the beach in Playa Matapalo, as we undergo massive renovations. We still have the house in the mountains too. When people at a recent retreat upstate asked me where we lived, I would preface with, “First of all, 15 years ago we were bankrupt and had no home. Now…” And here I laugh, not a calculated, for-effect laugh, but a true disbelieving chuckle that wells up without thought or provocation. “Now, we have two homes in Costa Rica.”

I got up this morning after a restless night. Almost no sleep. The weather had broken overnight (it’s rainy season here; rebranded as “green season” for the tourists, but still) and I know that a morning stroll to the water always sets me right.

Eric doesn’t need to be asked twice. He’s a born beach baby with sandy hair and eyes the color of the waves.

It’s only a three minute walk to the ocean from our new house. Eric immediately jumped into the sea and I set out down the beach, scanning for sand dollars.

It’s my superpower, finding sand dollars. And it never gets old. I gasp quietly with delight each time I spot one, scooping them up carefully, making sure they are truly just the exoskeletons, not the living creatures, expelling a sigh of sorrow if one of the delicate shells, which survived being battered by the sea to end up at my feet, somehow manages to crumble to dust in my hands.

I only take whole sand dollars. No spare change from the sea for me.

These are my real riches. These moments, these treasures casually tossed up by Mother Earth, the freedom of a quiet stroll in the sand with the pounding of the surf and the graaack! of the Macaws, the silent skimming of pelicans over the water as my husband plays chicken with the waves.

I horde my sand dollars in a drawer under my bed. My preciouses. My proof that the frail remains of exotic species can remain unbroken, that what is left is even more beautiful and resilient than what existed before.

May we all find our resilience today.