Like a cat bringing an unlucky bird or mouse to the doorstep, my grown children sometimes like to share news about things they find in their adventures out of doors. Luckily, their treasures are more benign than what the proverbial cat drags in.

Earlier this summer, they were visiting each other in California when they decided to gather shells from the beach. A picture soon arrived on my smartphone — a lovely image of seashells lining a beach towel, creating a banner that cheered me throughout the summer.

When I flip through pictures from this anxious year, that snapshot will be a keeper.

What is it, I was moved to wonder, that drives our impulse to gather bright, shiny things? Maybe it’s the primal hunter-gatherer in our genes, a survival tool we’ve continued to carry into our comforta

See Full Page