Edges Like Sea Glass

By Leah LaRocco

Blog

Home Sweet Home

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Well, Friday was the big day to close on my very first home. I put on my big girl panties and went to the closing by myself, signed all the documents that had ugly words like “a single woman” written all over them, and hugged my wonderful, sweet realtor, Laura Monin, who saw me through the whole process. I took a bunch of pics so you can see all the work going on as it’s happening!

So this is what I worked on this past weekend. The first pic is how the hall closet looked. There were 4 layers of wallpaper that mostly peeled right off the wall to reveal three layers of yellow, green, and then pink paint.

I also tore up the parquet to reveal yet another layer of awesome linoleum that is so brittle it just chips off in small pieces. But underneath it is wood floor that is just aching to be refinished and see the light.

Then there was the fireplace. It was originally ugly with each individual brick painted red. I got some high gloss enamel paint and went to town on that thing. Now it’s a pretty glossy black and looks much classier. The first coat took a while because of the surfaces and crevices, but the second coat went on like a dream and covered really well. There are just a couple of places to touch up where the tape didn’t adhere well.

Purchased the tub today! It weighs 74 pounds, but between Rob and I, we hustled that thing right in the house. Also bought a new ceiling fan for the living room. The current one makes a really lovely humming sound that makes you feel like yellow jackets about to swarm. Speaking of yellow jackets, one decided to make a small nest in my bedroom window, so Rob took care of that with a paint stick. The tile I want to use for the bathroom floor is sold out in 3 Home Depot stores, so I’m going to make a trip to one and buy everything they have and hope that 6 more units come in next week. It’s called Snow White. I think it’s going to be my fairy tale beach bathroom. We took the medicine cabinet off the wall to reveal a lovely seafoam green paint underneath. Once the new vanity is in, that room will be unrecognizable. Did I mention that the light switch for the bathroom is in the hallway? That is going to be confusing for a lot of people, I think. This is the funniest light switch cover I’ve ever seen. Perhaps if I get one of these, it’ll help people notice it?!

I found some really cute Long Island prints that I’m going to put up in my dining room along with a Jacqueline Penney print I bought when I was home in the summer. She is this incredible artistic woman who opens up her barn for people to walk in and see what she’s working on. I bought a print of New Suffolk in the moonlight on a summer evening. To me, it is breathtaking. I cried when I was picking out the other prints online and looking at all the pictures and missing Long Island desperately. In my heart it will always be home, no matter where I live. I told Rob the dining room will be my NY room.

Anyway, quite a lot accomplished in a weekend with nothing but pouring rain. The next big decision is a shower head and faucet, which are totally expensive by the way! I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and keep you updated on the progress inside and outside.

Beauty Out of Brokenness: My Sea Glass Obsession

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When I visit my little hometown of Mattituck, I enjoy walking down Love Lane and being unable to avoid seeing someone I know.  I love wine tasting at the vineyards and visiting people from the little church where I learned to sing.  But more than these, my favorite thing to do is walk on Bailie Beach, a small stretch of shoreline that looks out over the Long Island Sound to Connecticut (pictured above).  This beach has been home to some of my deepest revelations, most precious tears, and snarkiest conversations with God.  Even with all that water stretched before me, I’m not content to just watch the waves roll lazily to shore, and I’m really not into lying in the sun till the skin melts off my body.  I go to the beach to look for sea glass.
 
I first discovered this little pleasure when I spent four months of my life studying music on Martha’s Vineyard.  There’s not much to do on the small island in winter and walking to the beach every day kept my stir craziness at bay.  I became addicted to finding tiny colored bits of glass settled snugly between grains of sand, a perfect occupation for anyone with mild OCD, and brainlessly therapeutic for writers whose tired minds need rest.   When my sojourn on the Vineyard ended, I kept interest in this hobby and became fascinated with the whole process.  I’m always surprised when people have never heard of sea glass.   I think it’s a phenomenon only known to those who live near rocky seashores.  Boaters, beachgoers, and residents often end up throwing glass bottles into the local waters.  The glass isn’t harmful to the environment because nature has a lovely way of making art out of this particular kind of trash.   Waves smash the bottles to bits against the rocky shore, tossing them about with the ebbing of the tides, and as the pieces are scraped back and forth across the sand, the edges turn from razor sharp to velvety smooth.  The sheen of the glass turns matte and porous, and the result is a little beach gem that can be made into jewelry or used as a decoration on all sorts of tacky craft items. 
People may think me rather odd, wandering the shore, head to the ground, eyes peeled for something totally insignificant compared to the vast waters of the sea.  But it’s a spiritual experience for me.  I have a lot of rough edges that include a dirty mouth, terrible road rage, dislike of babies, criticism and judgment, a penchant for speaking before thinking, and the ability to carry a grudge to the ends of the earth.  People each have their own specific set of rough edges they carve out for themselves, but everyone gets broken sooner or later.  Relationships end.  Someone close dies.  A job ends.  A trusted friend becomes unreliable.  Harsh words fall upon vulnerable ears.  The heart is in a constant state of transformation as life batters and blows.  I can think back to specific times where I was broken.  These were terribly unpleasant times where I felt defeated by love and life.  But I’m thankful for those times.  I’m on the other side of them now.  I can look back and see that through the healing process, God smoothed away some of my rough edges.  I’m sure that more times of breaking are ahead of me, but it’s comforting to know that through the pain, beauty can be born.  Personally, I like to leave the glass as nature gives it to me.  I keep a bowlful on a table next to my bed as a constant reminder that God keeps softening my edges so I can come just a little closer to resembling him.