The Legend of the Blue Starfish

Imagine walking barefoot on a ramshackle wooden dock on a sunny day with the ocean moving beneath you. You can hear the creak of old wood with every swishing wave, the sun spreading its warmth across your skin, the soft cool spray of the sea around you, the cry of seagulls overhead. Suddenly, an unusual blue sparkle catches your eye. You walk over and crouch down. There is a glittering blue starfish laying on the wood! What a find! A treasure! You’ve never seen anything like it. What is it? Where did it come from? You look around in wonder, at the light sparkling on the sea, the white cotton candy clouds drifting across the blue sky, the boats around you gently rocking, and you remember: there are miracles all around us! There is magic everywhere!

I love making magic, and I love finding friends who do the same. So one day my friend, Cristie, was telling me how she loves to buy blue sea glass, because it’s the hardest to find, and sprinkle it on the beach where kids are playing and let them find it. I loved this idea, so when I stumbled upon some blue glitter starfish one day in a shop, I decided to make some magic. I kept the starfish wrapped in tissue waiting for the right moment.

The right moment came when I took the kids to brunch at The Market, a fabulous farm-to-table restaurant in a charming New England seaside town called Annisquam. What makes The Market special, besides it’s fantastic food, is it’s location. It is basically a hidden wooden shack on top of the water. You eat at picnic tables on a wooden deck with the water sloshing beneath your feet. It’s a spectacular place to watch a sunset, or the fog roll in. People arrive on boats or paddle boards, or drive the narrow winding streets lined in flowers and charming cottages to get there.

One Sunday, the kids and I went to brunch and I made up a story on the spot.

I told my kids, Annabelle and Henry: “Annisquam is a special place. In fact, it’s the only place in the world where starfish are blue.”

Their eyes grew huge as they listened.

“Apparently, when shooting stars fall out of the sky and land here, they turn into blue starfish. I wonder if we could find any?”

They both jumped up and ran down the wooden ramp to the dock. They walked up and down, looking in the water and on the wood. I followed them and lo and behold, I heard a squeal of delight when Annabelle spotted something blue and sparkling. Then Henry. They both triumphantly held up their blue sparkling starfish, gazing at them in awe. They skipped back up the ramp, carrying their magical stars.

Every time we went to Annisquam after that, I would go into my secret stash of blue starfish, put a few in my purse wrapped in tissue so the kids wouldn’t see, and secretly lay them down on the dock so they could be found.

The Market is a place we always take our summer visitors, as it’s only open from May through October. The kids excitedly tell our guests about the falling stars and blue starfish and as luck would have it, we always find more.  Aunts, Uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends–they all go home with a glittering blue starfish.

Even when I take my adult friends with no children to The Market, I tell them the Legend of the Blue Starfish.

My dear friend from New Orleans, Ashley Longshore, came to visit and I took her to The Market for dinner. I told her about the starfish, and her eyes grew huge as she gasped in excitement. Ashley is a magnificent artist who definitely believes in magic, and when we went down to the dock to look for the starfish that evening at dinner, and one appeared, she gasped in delight, ran to it and picked it up. Then she realized that maybe it wasn’t real, but she didn’t say it, she just looked at me and said in her southern accent,“Maaaarciiiiiii!” And that’s all she said as she put her arm around me and laughed her huge warm laugh as we walked back up the ramp under the stars.

I have Ashley’s art all over my house–she creates magic with her gorgeous and hilarious creations–paintings, sculptures, furniture and so many other things. Color, light, magic, joy, and cheeky humor are Ashley and everything she creates.

Another New Orleans artist friend, Cathy Weeks, came and when we told her about the starfish, she said in her thick New Orleans accent, “I don’t believe you! This sounds like a Marci story. I’m going to Google it.” I said, “This story doesn’t exist on google–only here, now.” She put her phone away with a smile and said, “I hope I find one.” She did. And for the record, Cathy absolutely believe in miracles. She is a stunning photographer of miracles, taking pictures of butterflies and trees and flowers in such a magical way, that you see them for the true miracles that they are. I have her photographs all over my house.

We haven’t been to The Market in years, so yesterday, when I was doing laundry, I opened a drawer that I hadn’t opened in a long time. There were some random crystal doorknobs, shoelaces, kid’s art, a purple hammer, and some tissue paper tied with blue string. I absent-mindedly opened up the tissue and smiled. Inside was my secret stash of blue starfish. I decided if we ever needed some magic, it’s now, during this very difficult time, after losing my father to cancer, my marriage to infidelity, and my best friend to suicide. I took the starfish with me on my walk on Singing Beach and put them around in the sand, so someone else can stumble on the magic themselves, maybe create their own story, and hopefully remember there are miracles everywhere, all around us.