By Shannon Williams
I am currently on a work road trip that has taken me back to West Texas for work and to see family. Spring in West Texas means dust and mud (that is when the dust blows and it rains, and thus MUD falls from the sky). It got me wondering what is the difference between dust and sand? Well, both have to be cleaned out of your car, your flooring and your body. Dust really does not make you feel good and gives you sinus infections! It changes the color of your car and dust has a smell that sand does not. Dust comes into your house uninvited; sand is usually brought into your home after a good time or if others come to visit you after they have had a good time.

You can make things from sand, such as sand castle, a fireplace pit, or a way to bury someone for fun. There is really nothing you can do with dust that is fun in any way; maybe with fairy dust, but I have not been able to find any of that anywhere for a few years! Many people like to get a little sand from a favorite beach and save it as a memory. Never known anyone to save dust or to have any type of memory from it. To be fair to dust, it is mentioned in the Bible several times, but then again, there are songs about sand – “Sandman”, “Sands of Time” and I can only think of “Dust in the Wind” for dust. So as I touch base with old friends during this trip, they always want to know “how I like living on the beach” and “don’t I miss good ole West Texas?” I miss the people of West Texas, they are some of the finest I have known, but we have many fine (and colorful) people on the beach.

While both have great sunsets and I love the West Texas sky, a sunset over the water is like nothing else. I guess sand really is the winner in the thoughts about which I like best! OK, I really have never liked dust, I love the fact that I don’t have to dust very often, instead of trying to keep dust out of a house in West Texas. While sand is not 100% perfect, it just has a magic about it. Not to mention that you can find treasures in sand.

Taking a walk in the sand, helps smooth out your feet and for me it reaches my soul. When my son was little, we took a yearly trip to South Padre Island. He loved it and had more fun in the sand than in the water. When he was about 5 years old, we went on the old “Big Red” boat cruise after a trip to Disney World. I will never forget the look on his face, the first time he saw a white sand beach with clear water. Life would never be the same for him, and while he still enjoyed many great times on a Texas Beach with its brown sand and murky water, he would tell me that the Texas beaches had dust not sand !!

So I leave you, looking out the hotel window seeing the dust blow by, but knowing that the sand will be there upon my return to calm my soul.

[March-22-2021]