The shore was so insecure. She knew she had found a good friend in the sea. Whatever the sea’s mood, its waves greeted the shore with a comforting consistency, sometimes with a gentle ripple, other times crashing down with an anger and fury caused by the conditions surrounding it.
But the shore had been let down by others before. She had provided a safe home for the sea turtle hatchlings only for them to leave for the open ocean and never return. Seal pups had been born on the beach but had abandoned the shore to find better breeding grounds of their own elsewhere. The jelly fish would crash to the shore only to dry up and perish in the sun. It seemed as though she could rely on no-one to stay with her for long.
The sea seemed to be different. The shore had no reason to think that he wouldn’t stay beside her for ever. Despite this, her insecurity would not subside.
From time to time the sea would retreat. The shore knew that there was an explanation. The moon had called him elsewhere. This was the natural order of things and he always returned. The shore knew this but each time she became anxious. Maybe this would be the time he never came back.
But the truth is that by retreating, the sea was able to gather treasures. One day it would be a beautiful rock, another time it would be a unique shell which brought the children to the shore in search of childhood treasures. After a particularly bad storm the sea would bring perfectly rounded pieces of sea glass that had been perfected by the crashing waves over decades.
The sea needed to retreat to be able to bring these gifts to shore.
And deep down she knew it.