The Mermaid’s Necklace That Stopped Me on the Beach

What a strange spiral in the sand made me realize about our bodies and new beginnings

A mermaid’s necklace stopped me in my tracks on the beach this week.

My husband and I slipped away to Marco Island for a few days this week.
Just sun, salt air, and long walks on the beach with nowhere we needed to be.

I’m an inland, landlocked girl and sea creatures and all the mysteries of the ocean fascinate me.

The strand was almost two feet long. Of course I had to Google what it was. Turns out it is a spiral of empty Lightning Whelk egg capsules. What looks like a strange ribbon in the sand is actually hundreds of tiny beginnings… each one once holding a baby sea snail.

Standing there holding it, I couldn’t help wondering: how does something like this even happen? A single sea snail somehow creates a spiral of tiny life and leaves it behind in the sand.

It made me think about something else nature does that still amazes me.

I’ve carried four babies inside my womb. Three of them have miraculously formed in all the right ways to be able to enter this world and grow into wonderful humans, one who is now several inches taller than I am. Again, how?!

Our bodies are pretty incredible, too. With each of those babies, I gained and lost 50 pounds. In 2018 I gained 75 pounds in a single year and found myself heading toward a place I never imagined. The way my body stretched and accommodated the extra weight is also nothing short of a miracle. How?

And while I have the utmost reverence for nature and the natural order of the world, it is science that has helped me find my place in the world today. After losing 125 pounds with the help of a GLP-1 medication, I had surgery to remove loose skin and put my body back together after years of neglect.

In this week’s video I share the full story of my tummy tuck:

• how I knew it was time to make the decision
• what it actually felt like waking up from surgery
• what recovery was really like
• and the surprising thing surgery cannot change about how you see yourself.

Finding that mermaid’s necklace on the beach felt like a little reminder. Nature has an incredible way of creating new beginnings. Sometimes science helps us finish the ones we’ve already started.

Wishing you the best week ahead. It’s spring break in Texas this week- we’re staying home and soaking up all the sunshine and spring blossoms we can.

Talk soon,

Meghann

P.S. I’m mulling over the idea of hosting a GLP-1 support group with a weekly live meeting off of YouTube where we can actually see each other’s faces and talk in real time. Would you be interested in this? Hit reply and let me know if that would be something helpful for you (no commitment, just trying to gauge interest!).