A gift

Upon retrieving the mail, I held in my hands a small, almost square package from a person who’s name or address was unfamiliar. It was a book about heart shaped stones and only after reading the accompanying enclosed letter, did I realized it came from a person I met April 4th at Bean Hollow State Park beach, which lies between San Francisco and Santa Cruz.

The Gift

Her name is Elizabeth and she was traveling down along the Pacific coast taking photographs of the scenery. We struck up a conversation and after an introduction I told her that a little further south was Whitehouse Cliff trail that leads to a cove I have considered my pirates/smugglers cove, my place to escape to. The place I discovered my first  two heart shaped stones during a storm.

Deep down inside me I wanted to share that spot with her, since it was a public spot, but that was not to be. During the course of taking pictures, Elizabeth called out to me and gestured I come to her, for she had discovered a heart shaped opening in the rock formation. Elizabeth continued photographing the varied stone structures as did I and before I left, giving her the name of my web site that she wrote down in her notebook.

From my collection

When I learned the gift came from her, three months after our initial contact and that she remembered how personally important heart shaped stones are to me, I was deeply touched by her kindness, especially as her correspondence contained some sad news, the kind we all face at one point or another.

The brief hour we shared at a public beach, each fulfilling our creative vision, while sharing a conversation, has now become a permanent memory through the gift. Maybe our paths will cross again and we meet once more, for it would be something I would look forward to with pleasure.

Thank you Elizabeth for brightening my day.

Thank you for your visit

and comment . . .

Egmont