The Path

Slow down, show up.

The path isn’t the way to get something; The path is the way to live. - Karen Maezen Miller, from Paradise in Plain Sight

For over a year I’ve been telling myself to enjoy the process of writing. To not just write to get something done, but to enjoy the process. It’s hard to not get antsy to finish a project, even with a finished project I’m getting antsy: a finished project that is barely out of the gate and needs a ton of hand holding to promote it.

I’m reminded of the tiny crab we found yesterday. His shell was no more than a centimeter wide, round with black stripes. His tiny little legs and claws stuck out the front of the shell and on closer examination, his two little eyes were round and black and stuck out far from his shell. My daughter found him in the sand and promptly placed him on my knee. Which I was not expecting, nor was I excited about. So I brushed him off, not fully realizing what I was doing. He landed back in the sand, unharmed at least to our human eyes.

The interwebs tell me he’s a Puerto Rican Sand Crab. A variety only found on the islands of PR. He eats plankton and algae and other “organic detritus” meaning rotting plants or fecal material. Hey - whatever he wants, right?

Before we saw him, he was on a path of his own. Maybe he was headed toward the water or heading to a tiny morsel of organic detritus. But he was on a path. After he violently rolled off my leg and landed in the sand, he created a new path. This time he was headed away from the water, toward the mangrove. Did he know where he was going? Or did he just sense that was the right way at the right time?

When my daughter came back from snorkeling, she asked where he had gone.

“Toward land,” I told her.

“How do you know?”

“I watched him for a while head that way,” and I pointed over my shoulder, “and I named him Rolly.”

Before she placed him on my knee, she held him in her hand so I could take a photo. I have a very similar photo of her holding a shell on the beach in Turks & Caicos 13 years ago. I zoomed tightly into her hand, focused on the shell. Now I have this shot, zoomed in, focused on the sand crab.

He looks so vulnerable up close. I read that crabs can be highly intelligent, they can solve mazes and are known to defend each other and hunt for food together. Crab’s eyes are on long stalks and can see 360 degrees, so they can watch for prey in all directions.

It reminds me of when we were in St. Lucia for a wedding over 20 years ago. We were walking through the lobby, dressed up for dinner, when our friend Mike nearly stepped on a tiny Ghost Crab. The little guy was no more than 2 inches wide and when he sensed Mike’s shoe (which I now know because of the swivel eyes), he quickly turned and clamped his claws open and closed threatening to pinch Mike’s toe. What made this even funnier, is that Mike has a prosthetic leg, which the crab clearly did not know.

We were a threat, and the little ghost crab stood up for himself.

I don’t know where little Rolly ended up. He may be in the mangrove on the west side of the island or he could be in the surf eating algae for breakfast. Either way, he followed his path, just like today I’ll follow my path. We’ll head to the beach again, and I’ll take in a deep breath of this salty air that I’ve missed. And know that I am right where I need to be. On my own path.