It Started with Rocks

It started with rocks...

There were so many of them when we moved into this house. Big rocks, small rocks, rocks in the grass, rocks under bushes, rocks in the walkway, rocks and rocks and rocks everywhere!

I have to admit, I was overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to do inside and out of the house when we moved back to California. Our place in Georgia was newly remodeled, in a beautiful neighborhood, and full of southern charm. 

Before moving to Georgia, I'd been living in run-down apartments for 15 years while working my way through my B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. programs. Some weeks I put in upwards of 80 hours of work a week. It was hard. So much work. All I could do was put one foot in front of the other day after day after day.

 When we moved to Georgia it felt like a sweet break. But before I knew it, I was back to California and living in an old, rundown house that seemed like an extension of all the work I'd been doing for so many years. Endless cleaning, and renovating, and digging up weeds and roots and rocks. We planted new gardens, and they were beautiful for a short while, but after a few weeks they just wilted and died.

One day, I sat staring angrily at a pile of rocks I had pushed into a corner of the yard, and I had an idea. What if I made something beautiful out of the rocks? What if I colored in and lit up all those jagged and broken pieces I had tried so hard to hide and discard?

 I remembered that my mom had dreams of building a garden for fairies. I found the fairies a house.

And then another...

When I told my mom I was building a fairy garden she gave me a few of the treasures she'd been saving over the years. 

 

  

It took a lot of hard work--digging, and raking, and moving heavy rocks--and also creative vision, but I finally made something really pretty out of that ugly pile.

My mom always says never lose your magic or your hope. I believe that with hard work your magical and hopeful visions can come true. My fairies do too.

Image from Pinterest

~Nel