Signs Of Life From The Rock

I think I have owned this rock longer than anything I have ever owned. It was given to me by a neighbor around the time I was six, I believe, so I have owned this rock a couple years shy of 30 total years.

It was once full of chicks and hens, succulant plants, that have died and revived over the years numerous times. It travelled from my child hood home to Central Washington where it lived in my parents back yard. It lived there until Jeff and I bought our first home in Pullman and we had a yard for it to sit in. My dad brought it to us when we moved, along with some of the chicks and hens that multiplied from it. Over the years in Pullman, many of the new chicks and hens were given away to friends and neighbors and they planted them around their yards. Even a few months before moving, I had one final request for a few. I didn't bring any of the chicks and hens with me. Over our 8 year span in Pullman they grew into a succulant bed that covered a whole side yard patch of our home. I decided I would just bring the rock out of sentimental value, since the one last lonely plant inside was pretty much dead. The plan was to take it with us in the car on our journey down to Oregon but it was accidentally put into the moving truck. It sat in the moving truck for 4 freezing nights. I thought it was pretty much done for. This morning I realized the plant was back to its original climate (and a hour and half from my childhood home) and maybe some sunlight and rain would do it some good. The movers had set it right inside the garage for me and when I picked it up today, I saw life once again. A little green plant emerging from the rock.

I will keep this rock forever. It was given to me in kindness and I have been able to pass that on to others through its plants. It continues to live(with many years of help from my dad keeping it alive), flourish and adjust to change. A few very good life lessons I remembered today, because of a rock.