John’s Mom found a trash can full to the brim with abalone shells. Immediately Mom bent her head and studied the swirls as if she were staring up at the sky at cloud patterns. She found four to eight stories in every shell spending maybe twenty minutes per shell.

We were visiting my brother’s family so there were seven of us who took turns gazing into the shells with her as she spun stories non stop for HOURS. She never tired. Her legs never faltered. Her imagination always swirling like spinning water.

About four hours later Philip, shown below, helped Mom put the shells back in the bucket and to our shock and surprise said, “We have another container full of shells. Wanna see it?”  nancymauerman.com