During the cold Illinois winters, my grandparents traveled in the Southwest and Mexico. My grandpa was a rock hound so instead of bringing back tchotchkes, he brought back rocks and grandma would take care of the souvenirs for the grandkids. When we went for our summer visits, my mom would bring some rocks home and put them in her gardens as embellishments. We moved every 2-3 years for my dad's job and every time the moving truck showed up for packing my dad would fuss, "Joan, do you think Sears wants to pay to move all these rocks?" She would smile and the rocks made it to our next home.
A year after Mom moved into assisted living/memory care, it was time to sell her house. As my siblings and I cleaned out the house, my brother said, "We can't leave the rocks here. They've been in the family a long time." The four of us divided up the rocks and now they adorn our gardens. Rocks of ages for three generations.
Yesterday was a beautiful spring day bordering on hot so of course it was time to have the windows down in the car and the radio playing loud. What song came on? "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard. Ohhhh, rockin' down the highway...oops, wrong group!
That song took me back to the time we attended a funeral and "Rock of Ages" (the church version) was one of the songs the family chose for the service. The man behind me had a beautiful bass voice and was singing what would have been his part in a choir. It was a soul touching moment to send this rockstar of a lady to her final rest.
"There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends how you use them." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Just keep rockin' on.
Nice collection of rocks and a great family legacy.
ReplyDeleteMy grandpa got some petrified wood when it wasn't illegal to collect it.
DeleteI love your rock of ages story. It's wonderful that you still have these treasures.
ReplyDeleteThey are such wonderful remembrances of my parents and grandparents.
Delete