The Chambered Nautilus

I should have given birth last week but I'm over it because I am one wall-loving mollusk.

The chambered nautilus is a mollusk that lives in and is attached to a spiral-shaped shell. It is the only mollusk with a fully developed protective shell. Octopi and squid are probably super jealous of it.

A newly hatched nautilus begins its life with only four chambers and is the size of a quarter. When one chamber becomes too small for the mollusk it builds a new, larger chamber and closes off the old. The succession of repeatedly larger chambers results in the spiral shape of the shell. By the time is it an adult has an average of 30 chambers and is 8" wide.

Because of the air trapped in its smaller, older chambers the mollusk is buoyant and can easily move about the blue waters of the Indian Ocean. The term “nautilus” is derived from the ancient Greek word for sailor.

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Fishes

After Jesus died some of his disciples returned to their old professions and went fishing. They fished all night without success. In the morning The Risen Christ stood unrecognized on the shore and asked them if they caught anything, to which he was answered in the negative. He told them

Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.

They obeyed and were not able to draw up the net because it was so heavy. An instant miracle from obedience. Irrepressible Peter immediately knew who was guiding from land and jumped overboard to swim to him because he couldn't wait to row the boat to shore. (It was heavy from all the fish!) Friendship indeed. How Peter must have loved the Savior.

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Little Green Bowl

A few months ago my friend Tiff moved to Vegas. We loved burlap, cake pops, and anthropologie kitchen provisions equally. Shortly thereafter I was perusing the anthro sale rack at City Creek and found a green sugar bowl with the tiniest spoon you ever did see. My first thought was, "Tiff would love this." My second thought was, "I love this. I love miniature anything and I even love sugar. I think I love this more than Tiff would love this." I bought it.

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Some Good

Let me tell you a really good story. It has pictures.

Once upon a time a fair maiden was pounding out a butter block for croissants with the handleless, silicone rolling pin she bought in Paris. (Duh, all good stories begin with butter.) She was sobbing and trying to wipe her nose with the sleeve of her shirt while she channeled her anger into that poor butter. Fair Maiden's friend, Blue-Eyed Becca, sat listening on a barstool on the other side of the butter.

On and on Fair Maiden cried about how frustrated she was. Fair Maiden had surmised back in December when the IVF failed that her body needed to get physically stronger if it was ever going to carry twins a baby. She had since dedicated four months to hot yoga and positivity. Then Maiden threw her back out, was stuck in bed for a week, and suddenly found herself defeated by every stumbling block she stubbed her toe on. Physical limitations made Maiden feel stunted and weak and scared that she'd never have the core power to grow humans inside of herself.

Blue-Eyed Becca nodded and listened with her perfect princess posture. Then she told Fair Maiden of some personal nightmares she had lived through herself and testified of the bit of advice her sister Emily had given her. The advice was this: SOME GOOD. Emily told her that through every difficulty we encounter there is some good to be found.

The croissants turned out beautifully. It's amazing what a box and a half of butter can do.

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Anchor

My life has been invaded by sailing.

First Greg painted me a rock. This has only happened once in our 16 years of marriage. He painted an oval rock blue and then painted a tiny sailboat on it and wrote ZINA on one sail and YOUNG on the other. On the back side he painted a plus sign to remind me to be of good cheer and to have a positive attitude while I'm sailing. [I included the story he read me with the rock at the end of this post.] Many times a week when I start to get catatonic from life's paralyzing pressures Greg tells me to SAIL AROUND THE ROCKS.

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