I love when random conversations lead to the best insights.

We traveled to San Diego, California this past weekend for my daughter’s 5th birthday. It was the kids’ first time seeing the ocean.

We got into town at noon, parked, and went right to the beach for the next 3 hours.

After checking in we needed some serious down time.

But as the sun was setting my son was begging to go back to the ocean, exclaiming, “Isn’t that the whole reason we came here?”

Yep, it was.

So we walked back to the beach and let him run wild in the waves while his sister commenced round two of her “sandtopia.”

Kevin and I were discussing renting a boogie board the next day for my son….and then my favorite thing happened!

I went to throw away some trash and found a perfectly good boogie board poking out of the trash.

My son took it into the ocean and it worked great.

Salvage is the best!

As he was riding the waves a jogger ran past and started chatting with us. She was admiring how kids do not seem to feel the cold of the ocean. Then my son emerged from the water exclaiming to her, “We found this boogie board in the trash!! We are a family of salvagers!”

She smiled and said, “Why create more when there is enough?”

These simple words felt so profound in that moment, as I surveyed all the items left behind at the beach.

Why create more?

Salvage doesn’t always mean plucking things from the trash. To me it is more the idea of sharing needs and resources.

For Example: We didn’t have a microwave for 14 months. Our apartment didn’t have one when we moved in, so we decided to go without. We got used to it and didn’t feel inconvenienced.

But when my friend offered her extra one to us for free I gladly took it.

It has been useful to have and I am very grateful.

I believe all our “stuff” needs can be met by simply sharing excess.

Excess can be bad, but if we freely give and share it with others at least we can stop creating more.

So the next time I think about purchasing a new item, I will pause and simply ask:

Why create more when there is enough?

-Brittany