the zeitgeist of zoe

Heart shaped rocks

This one’s dumb, but bear with me…the purpose of these posts isn’t to wow the blogosphere, it’s to write about what makes you happy on a given day.

I have always liked rocks. Had a thing for them, you might even say. Everywhere I’d go as a little kid, I picked up “beauty rocks” and gave them to my Mum.  These were nothing more than bits of quartz or mica I spotted wherever it was we were walking, but to me they were pretty and well, my mom was pretty too…you get the idea.

And at the beach! Oh, the poor woman…I’d fill my pail with smooth or unusual beach rocks and yes, every one of them would have to come home with us. I actually still use a couple flat beach rocks to burn incense cones on.

Anyway, as I got a bit older and had discovered boys, I became fascinated one day when, out walking my horse after a ride, I stumbled upon a rock in the field that resembled a heart.

In typical teenage fashion, I was engaged in a crush on some boy who didn’t even know I existed. I picked up the rock, pocketed it and decided it was a sign. A little hint from the universe that maybe, just maybe he liked me too.

He didn’t, but the magic of that heart shaped rock stayed with me just the same.

For a long time, whenever I found a heart shaped rock in my travels, I picked it up. There were times in my life for whatever reason, I came upon quite a few. I actually collected them in a mason jar during my marriage, taking the abundance of them as a sign as I did in my youth. When the marriage ended and I relocated back to the east coast I took that as a sign too, and I dumped the jar out in the woods along a hiking trail before I left.

I hadn’t noticed a heart shaped rock since.

Until today.

This time, in my wizened middle age, I just photographed it; I didn’t pick it up…I left it there to perhaps bring some joy and wonder into the life of the next person to find it.

But I’ve been feeling giddy ever since, just like I did that first time, out in the field; punch drunk and light-hearted and full of exciting “what ifs”. I had forgotten over the last few years how great it is to feel that way.

Some days, life just rocks ; )