Inside Rocks- and Uncle Rick

 Uncle Rick passed away this week. Though I am sure without a doubt that he had a good heart, his life had become very small and tragic. That made his death, though shocking, less tragic by comparison. 

To keep our animal selves in the present moment, we try to never think of life as finite. It is after all, everything we know. So, while Rick's passing may bring quieter days for the family, Satu is in Indiana with her Aunt Mary sitting with the discomforting feeling of a life disappearing from the world we know.

When she returns, she will surely bring home rocks. We have inside rocks and outside rocks at our home. Most of them have come from the land in Indiana.  

Inside rocks and other infinite things

Satu is fascinated by many objects and shapes, but unlike pipes, lightsabers, desiccants or writing utensils (etc.) she expresses more than curiosity about them. She told me once that they each have a spirit, so her connection to them is more than with simple objects. 

I wonder if she finds something comforting in this idea of a different kind of spirit without body and without knowledge. I think I may understand that a little. She chooses the best rocks from the pile. Not necessarily the friendliest ones, or the convenient ones, usually, not even easy ones (she has been known to operate heavy machinery to bring one home.) She brings the ones that speak to her. 

Things that used to be (actually) alive, but remind her of rocks and were, therefore, among the 4 pictures she took on our last trip together.

I find something comforting about thinking of rocks slowly changing form over the years, but maintaining their essence. Holding one of the round ones she brought home does make me feel connected to the earth in some small way, calmed by the thought of something that will be the same years after I am gone. I am generally not woo-woo about connection to the world and trying to understand some abstract purpose in our existence, but holding a rock can bring out the woo-woo a little.

Outside rocks with finite things

2023 is coming to a close. This year we have seen a lot of life ending, and not a lot of springtime. I hope that if this new year brings more rain, it will show new colors without changing the shape of us too much. like the garden rocks that brighten when they are wet.