Hide and Seek

Been on holiday, so to speak.  Older daughter came into town with our two grandkids.  Annabeth is six; Owen is three.  As always, we crammed in as much living as we could in a few short days. 

One of the things Annabeth wanted to do was paint rocks and hide them.   So . . .

Grandpa broke out a can of gold metallic spray paint and turned river rocks into gold nuggets.  Then, we painted images and words on them: Hearts and love, yin and yang symbol, peace, hope . . .

Next, we headed to Garvin Park here in town to play on the playground, hunt for cicada shells, and hide our rocks.  We hid a couple on the walk when Annabeth stopped and said, "We should give them to people so we know that they're found!" 

First a couple fishing.  "Hi, I'm giving away rocks!"  With that, she hands the lady a rock with a heart on one side and "Love" on the other.  The woman was so gracious and said,  "I have a small granddaughter and I'm going to give this to her.  She'll love it!  Thank you." 

And with that, we were off down the path.  About a quarter way around the lake we saw a woman sitting by herself at a picnic table.  (I don't know if you know a lot about Garvin, but it's a popular hangout for, well, let's just say a lot of people who don't have a lot of options in this world.  This woman looked like she could be one of them).  Annabeth didn't hesitate.  "Hi," she said reaching into her container of rocks looking for just the right one and picking it out, "I'm giving out rocks!"   With that, she hands her one with the word "hope" on it.  

The woman looked at it for a long time.  I could tell that she was getting emotional.  She finally said, "It's lovely.  I'm going to keep this forever."

And with that, we were off down the path.  

"Love" and "hope" and "peace"  -- all given away by a six-year-old.
She didn't want to hide them; she wanted to make sure that they were found. 
And with that, we were off down the path.

Have a great weekend,
Carpe diem Life,
David Kuhn