One of my earliest childhood memories is being on a beach in South Carolina with my family. I was super young, like maybe three or four. I was walking around with my Mom when suddenly my eye spotted something red and glorious in the sand. I quickly made my way over to it and picked it up with my hand.

It was a big Spiderman head. Like one half of some type of kid’s bath accessory. I had found the front part with Spiderman’s head on it.

I was obsessed with super-heroes as a kid (some things don’t change) and so finding this wonder filled heavenly artifact on the beach that day seemed nothing short of miraculous.

I ran over to my Mom to show her. I extended my hand to reveal the miraculous Spiderman head that had providentially fallen into my possession. As I stood there excitedly showing and telling her of my discovery, the unspeakable happened.

The next thing I remember is getting smashed by a violent wave. The Spiderman head was mercilessly torn from my hand and hurled back into the bowels of the sea where it would forever remain.

I stood there dumbfounded by the brutal reality lesson the sea taught me that day. I was shocked. As soon as I realized what had happened, the tears began streaming down my face and I began wailing.

God bless my Mom. She stayed with me and “helped me look” for it for about 15 minutes after the event, knowing full well that what the sea had given to me, it had taken back from me.

A few weeks after we got home from vacation, I was in a Belmont department store with my Mom. I was in the toy aisle, and there hanging on a rack was the same miraculous Spiderman head mint on card. Turns out the thing I found in the sand was a Spiderman Silly Putty container with RED Silly Putty inside.

My Mom bought me the Spiderman Silly Putty head.

I was vindicated.