Our Family: Looking for Shark's Teeth

Whenever I ask my students why they came to the U.S., they reply, "For opportunities." "Opportunity" seems to be one of the first words that they learn in English, and they use it to mean "chance" or "lucky break." My students continue to believe that the U.S. is full of opportunities, even after they discover that the job market is miserable and they might have to pay $1,000 a month to rent a single room.

I try to teach my own kids to appreciate the many opportunities that life tosses at them, especially the unexpected opportunities. Take this vacation,for instance. What a marvelous opportunity Jordan and Pam have given us! Cassie's previous beach experience was limited to just a few hours. And, Lacey has never been to the beach before. Now, they have a whole glorious week to roll in the sand and dig for shells. As if that weren't enough, Bryan, Rachel, Cooper and Maddie got to join us for a few days. Truly, that was a lucky break! As you can see from the photos, we are taking advantage of the opportunities here.

One of the unexpected opportunities that came our way this week was Cassie coming down with pneumonia. This gave Cassie and me the chance to spend five hours alone together at the local emergency room. While we were there, we had the lucky break of meeting the family that manages the local fishing pier. We also learned how to best treat a stingray bite. We benefited from a lot of friendly attention from the staff. And, I got to introduce Cassie to some great reruns of the "I Love Lucy" show.

One of Cassie's goals this trip was to find a shark's tooth. Unfortunately, she hasn't felt well enough to spend much time on the beach. So, I had the opportunity to be wading through tide pools on the beach this morning, watching the sun come up, while I searched for a shark's tooth. And, I had the chance to meet a local fisherman who had lost his cellphone on the beach. He helped me look for a shark's tooth and I helped him look for his phone. We didn't find either. But, we shared some great conversation. And, he gave me some useful advice about looking for shark's teeth. (Keep your head down because you never know when you might find one.) I'm still looking for a shark's tooth. I'm keeping my head down because I imagine that the quest will present me with a few more interesting opportunities and I'd hate to miss them.