{"id":27565,"date":"2018-03-21T10:36:28","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T14:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/?p=27565"},"modified":"2018-11-11T14:14:16","modified_gmt":"2018-11-11T19:14:16","slug":"my-shellbatical-id-like-to-explain-my-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/21\/my-shellbatical-id-like-to-explain-my-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"My Shellbatical. I’d Like To Explain My Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Shellbatical<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s been a while since I’ve shared my shelling stories of lovely walks on Sanibel’s beaches finding beautiful treasures. I’ve had quite a few people send sweet notes making sure I’m okay and if my husband Clark is okay.<\/p>\n

So to answer the question of how we are doing? We’re both getting better.\u00a0Thank you all for asking and I’m so sorry I couldn’t write back. I was exhausted to the point I had no voice.<\/p>\n

After 1,337 blog posts, 204 YouTube videos, countless Instagram and Facebook posts during 9 years- I’ve only posted positive, happy, uncontroversial and yes, at times I’ve been known to get embarrassingly silly. There are so many beautiful and fun things in this world to talk about so why not have fun learning about them? \u00a0It’s difficult enough to navigate through regular life, so it shouldn’t be so difficult to navigate through the internet to find a happy place as a retreat. I created iLoveShelling to always be a happy place one can count on to always bring a smile- an internet safe zone for shellers, beach lovers and families.<\/p>\n

It breaks my heart to tell you an ugly story- so instead, I want to share with you a story that I hope will empower you to stand up for yourself no matter how big the “political arena” may seem. We are never alone- especially in the shelling community! Shellers have an eye for seeing beauty that most other people just walk passed without noticing. We shellers focus on the details on not just our surrounding environment, but the objects in our environment, the situations involving our environment and then learning how to embrace the ever changing environment because we have to trust it. We have to trust in our environment and at times, we have to trust people. We all know we shouldn’t trust everybody… but one would hope we could trust our own county in which we live and love. So here’s where my throat closes up and my heart gets weak… I shouldn’t have trusted my own county. My last straw was drawn when Lee County refused to display Shell Love Bug at the 81st annual Sanibel Shell Festival. Shell Love Bug was born on Sanibel with the blood, sweat and tears of the local community… and of course our seashells.<\/p>\n

Citizens of this community and the shelling community entrusted with me\u00a0their heartfelt seashells from their personal collections so I could weave their memories and mine into Shell Love Bug to be part of Sanibel history. I have to protect those memories for them and my art they worked so hard on as well. With my friends by my side, I’m standing up to Lee County to bring our Shell Love Bug back to Sanibel!<\/p>\n