A young couple was wading around, a small boy on the father’s shoulders. Quinn smiled at what a perfect picture they made. A family enjoying some of God’s most simple but remarkable gifts of beauty. On the bank another couple lounged on a large towel, eating fruit.

“Want to cool off in the river?” Liam asked.

She nodded, and they went to the edge of the water. He pointed at a large rock, and she leaned against it and took off her shoes. She was glad she hadn’t worn socks, and she set the sneakers aside. After taking her bag and tucking it beside the rock, Liam removed his shoes and joined her.

He took her arm protectively and helped her into the water.

She gasped, her eyes wide with shock.

“Cold, eh?” he said, laughing.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” Quinn choked out. “But it feels nice.”

After a minute or two, they climbed out and sat side by side on the bank.

“Wow, did you know you have a small birthmark behind your ear that is shaped just like a turtle?” he said.

Quinn reached up, self-consciously covering the small brown mark.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t like it,” Liam said.

She shrugged. “What’s to like?”

“It looks just like a sea turtle!” he said, his voice incredulous. “We call them honu. In Hawaiian culture the sea turtle is considered a guardian spirit. It can change shape at will, just like the Hawaiian god of the sea, Kanaloa. You’re lucky to have been given such a significant mark.”

“Well, I never appreciated it. When I was a just a girl, my mom would pull my hair back for school, and sometimes the other kids would make fun of it. I tried to hide it through junior high.”

“That’s really sad that they would try to put down such an exceptional gift,” Liam said.

“My mom tried to help me get over it. She also told me turtles are special in the Hawaiian culture. We had a jar—or we still do somewhere. She called it our spirit jar, and we would write our wishes down and put them in there. My mom always said the spiritual powers of the turtle and the sea would make our dreams reality.”

She wondered where the jar was now. She hadn’t seen it in ages and would love to read through the notes and see what both she and her mother had written down so many years ago.

Liam was quiet, staring off into the distance as though he were somewhere else.

Quinn wasn’t usually comfortable with intruding on someone’s thoughts, but she decided to take a chance. She really wanted to know.

“What are you thinking of?” she asked.