I am an eavesdropper. My regular readers know this. I understand that I shouldn’t do it, but certain stories are too compelling to shut my ears. And honestly, I got the sense that these people wanted their story to be told. Their story sounded like a Nicholas Sparks book-and-then-movie, in the making.
As we were leaving our flight, I overheard a spritely, older couple talking to the flight attendant. The couple had flown to a mountainous area to go back to a spot which had been enticingly romantic to them, when they were first dating many, many years ago. The couple (now in their early seventies) felt that if they had waited any longer to do this trip, they might not have the physical fortitude to achieve this special journey.
When the couple were young and newly in love, they carved their initials into a beautiful little rock, and then they buried this particular rock in a certain spot, high up in the mountains. The couple had taken this specific journey, just this past weekend, far, far away from home, to see if their precious rock, which they had buried a long time ago, still existed. And yes!!! Miraculously, this adorable couple were able to find the exact spot (remember that they buried this rock years before GPS technology existed), and they unearthed their lovely, little rock that had marked the beginning of the foundation of their shared lives. The rock was just as they had left it, with their shared initials still clearly marked in the stone. The couple decided to bring the rock back home with them, but they told the flight attendant that they were very careful to get the coordinates of the spot where they had buried the rock, because they wanted their children to put their ashes, at that same exact spot, when they die. Then they laughed mischievously, saying that their kids would probably be in their seventies, themselves, and having to make that same difficult hike which the couple had just completed, by the time it was time to put their parents’ ashes to rest, in the spot in the mountains where the enduring story of this couple’s shared love, and the life of their family, all began.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
