I Found A Stone

I found a stone.

Today I went forest bathing with the City of Victoria. One of the invitations the guide gave was to make friends with a tree, plant, stone, or pinecone. Seeing I have many tree friends, as soon as I heard the prompt, my heart was set on finding a stone.

I ventured off the beaten track, and certainly made friends with some lovely trees, other plants, deer, birds, and a ton of bugs. 🥰 However as I followed my intuition wherever it led me to go, at one point climbing down a slope, making my way through thickets and groves; I became more and more hopeless of finding a stone. The forest floor was covered in leaves, sticks, and twigs, but there were no rocks in sight.

I veered on and then off the trodden path again, down a much less journeyed way. I met a final tree. I told it that I was looking for a stone. I knew my time was running out. I needed to return to the group. I knelt down across from the tree, picking up some fallen leaves but there were no stones hidden beneath. I knew I had to give up. I wasn’t going to find a stone today.

I stood up and took a couple steps in the opposite direction than the one I needed to head back in and that’s when I saw it. There was a nearly perfect large oval rock sitting at the base of a twiggy bush. Its speckled pale grey stood out like the moon against the rich dark browns and greens of the forest floor.

I walked over slowly and picked it up, cradling it in my hands like an ancient treasure that I never believed I’d stumble upon. It was large enough to fill my entire palm. It reminded me of a dinosaur egg. I knew it wasn’t mine to take so after I spent some time with it, allowing my fingers to trace its shape; my warmth to feel its soothing coolness; my softness embracing its solid strength; cherishing this moment of awe—I put the stone back down and then headed off to rejoin the group. When I got back, I found out they’d been waiting for me; I hadn’t heard the call.

I had given up looking for a rock. I had given up hope that I would find that of which I sought. But then I saw it. There it was. I found a stone.