My oldest daughter just called to express her displeasure at her latest portrayal in my writings. She gets portrayed a lot.
She says that I insinuated to the whole world that she's as dumb as a rock.
I assure you that she isn't. She's a college graduate even.
She says I left out the "why" of her rock collecting which is critically important.
So here's the why that I didn't remember because I was only thinking about how heavy those darn rocks were.
Seems she and I were sitting together talking on that rock beach. She was at the time going through one of the most difficult periods of her life. We chanced to admire the many beautiful, smooth, round stones on the beach. She says that I told her that they were so beautiful because they'd been polished by the tumbling over and over again in the surf and sand. It had worn the rough and sharp pieces off and left them perfect and lovely. I reminded her that life was doing that for her.
Anyway, she says she wanted to remember what I'd told her and that's why she gathered those rocks. She says that's why she lugged them all over the country. She says she remembers still when she looks at them in the basket on the floor of her family room. Those rocks are very important to her and she's not dumb.
I apologize dear daughter. You are right. You are not dumb.
I love you.
And I can't tell you how gratifying it is that that at least one child of mine remembered something I once said.
1 comment:
I've been re-reading some blogs and reading some I had missed. I loved the skipping rocks and glad you added this. It gave so much depth to Kim's decorative rocks. I'm kind of jealous I've never thought to do that. Lon once gave a rock as a gift to a departing mission president he had worked with as a counselor. It was from near your old stomping grounds. I was embarrassed at the corniness. You see, just before the end of his mission, four elders were having a P-day adventure. They started rolling rocks down the side of a canyon and started a forest fire from sparks coming off the rocks! They got it out and reported it. There was an investigation by the Forest Service and consultation with the Church's legal department. The Elders weren't fined or prosecuted because they had stayed and put the fire out and no matches or other such materials were found. It was a big deal and we were all worried about how things would turn out. Lon gave him the large heavy rock in a gift bag with a note that said that the missionary handbook should include, "No rock-and-roll and no rolling rocks!" President Bassett nearly cried. He took that rock back to his home in California where he claims it has a prominent spot in his garden.
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