Okay, so here we go again with this Beach connection but again, it really is a true blue connection on so many levels. This post being on the levels of my personal journey as one of the oldest of the baby boomers on this journey into “BoomerHood” of life stages through the metaphor of Beach shells.

My last name is spelled Beach like Holden Beach, NC where these shells were found during our last visit. I walk miles and miles on this beautiful beach whenever we are there. Most often, I walk alone deep in thought and tons of prayer so I am always surprised when I realize that my goodness, I’ve walked 2 miles already which means of course, that is 2 miles back to our beach house.

You will probably think I am quite silly to see these conch shells as representing my life journey in my many life phases but that is totally fine. Because also, you must eventually see that we all are indeed on a life journey. Understanding where we have been so helps and encourages us to keep on trying and keep on believing that what we do to improve ourselves does actually show either in our behaviors or in our physical status and most often, both.

My journey of empty nest, launching adult children, becoming a mother-in-law and mother of married grown children, career changes, aging elderly parents, and becoming a grandmother was not pretty or easy for me as a Boomer pioneer. Each of these Boomer stages for me may have looked pretty good, but I was not feeling very perfect or whole. Something was always seeming to be missing or broken as our generation tried to figure things out in a vastly different world that was changing drastically all around us Boomers.

But as I show you my journey in these shells, do not think for a minute that I find myself perfected and done. Oh no, not at all. But as my friend, Joanna, tells me that the word perfect means wholeness or complete. Nothing missing, nothing broken, is another way of describing wholeness.

So, at this stage of life, complete is how I am seeing my life even with many, many personal, physical, relational, professional, and spiritual goals yet to accomplish.

You see, as this absolutely magnificent conch shell from the Beach looks almost perfect but is not, so is Mitzi Beach’s life…. perfect ( in feeling complete ) but not perfected. My journey has been long and cracked and down right ugly at times like these shells. But, I am making it and am loving life as I continue to press on toward the prize that we are all called to achieve….wholeness.

Life comes at us wave after wave so be watching for your treasures in the waves of your lives. They are surely there if you expect and watch for them.