An Evening Well Spent

The dogs needed a walk and I suppose I did too.  I had been up til 4am with insomnia the night before and so I had been lounging around the house all day and had just let them out for quick potty breaks...but still they were asking to go for a walk.  “Okay, okay, okay… fine.  Let’s go.”  Since having overcome the inertia to get up and take the walk, I figured we might as well stay up and go somewhere.   After the dogs finished their business we headed down the mountain to the playground at Montreat…my new favorite place.  I go there to build cairns, my latest Inner Child-driven activity, but also to soak in the cold mountain water my still swollen injured-but-slowly-healing ankle.  I also find that it is a very meditative and therapeutic thing to do.  I found a good spot away from most of the people that were still lingering in the park after 6pm and hitched the dogs to a tree.  No time was wasted in climbing down the bank and into the creek.  Within minutes I had one, two, three cairns built.  The fourth one I struggled with a bit as the flat rock I was working with didn’t want to cooperate.  Finally, I managed to just barely balance said flat rock onto the point of a pyramid shaped rock, when a smallish stone jumped from my grip and flung itself directly onto the flat balanced one…bumping it off?.  Nope, the darn thing stuck like a magnet!  It didn’t wiggle and it never fell.  I couldn’t believe it!  My eyes practically popped out of my head and I let out a “WHOOP!” and immediately took a picture in case it didn’t last.  I swear sometimes these rocks really do have a mind of their own.  Or maybe some sort of Rock Faerie was hanging out lending assistance?  I bet that’s it.  

The Rock Faerie-Assisted Cairn with the stone that
jumped out of my hand and landed right on top

Whatever it was, willful rocks or rock faeries, I wanted more challenge, and so I thought I would give them a run for their money.  A large, triangle shaped rock presented itself to me and I stood it up on its point rather than its heavier, and easier, flat base.  Even after managing to get it to stay put, it took several tries to add more on top…but finally, Sweet Success!  Two more balanced on top and it’s done.

Precariously stacked

I was definitely proud of both of those two and very invested in their shelf life so I was a little apprehensive when right then two boys came over and struck up a conversation. 

Boys: “Did you make those?”

Me: “I did.”

Boys: “Whoa, that’s cool!  How did you do that?”

Me: “Well, have you ever played with blocks?”

Boys: “Yeah, but…”

Me: “Well its just like that only instead of playing with blocks, you play with rocks…and you just stack ‘em up.”

Boys: “Whoa…that looks hard.”

Me: “It is sometimes, but that’s why it’s fun. Try it!”

And they did, only I didn’t mean right here, right next to me…On the same set of base rocks I am using…I meant…ya know…OVER THERE! It’s a big creek ya know!!  I held my breath and bit my tongue and managed to keep my thoughts to myself...instead putting on the encouraging teacher face.

One boy wasn't at all interested and busied himself splashing about but the other boy took up residence inches from the cairn I built with the Rock Faerie’s help.  He bent over his work and his hair and his breath brushed my work.  My heart skipped.  I was certain he would clumsily knock it over and my vision of a whole field of cairns would be ruined. 

Boy: “Do you work here?”  He meant the Montreat Conference Center.

Me: “Nope.  I just play here, just like you.”  A big smile slowly took over his face while he comprehended that a grown-up was playing just to play.  The potential for him wreaking havoc had me a little bugged, but he finished his cairn, stood up proudly and romped off with the other boy.  Whew!  

The first child-built cairn inches from my Rock Faerie-assisted cairn

I was relieved that they came and went and left no destruction in their wake…I was pleasantly surprised and I knew my attitude needed an adjustment. I reminded myself that it’s just a pile of rocks and you already got the photos and it’s really no big deal.  Let it go…getting kids involved is a good thing...that’s what you want!  It is what I want, but sometimes my Overgrown 10 Year Old tendencies get the better of me and get in the way of rational thinking.  I continued working and more and more cairns came to be.   The more I worked, the more children came to be as well… It started with 3, and then 4 including the original two, back for more. 

Kids: “I like your castles.  How do you do that?  Why do you do that?  I wanna try that.  Can I try that?  How do you do it?  I wanna try that.  Is it hard?  It looks hard.  I can’t do that.  Can you show me how to do that?  Are they castles?  Can I help?  I wanna try.  Can I do it too?”  I heard from four kids all at once.

Again I said, “It’s just like stacking up blocks…Try it.  Just be careful…don’t knock the other ones down!”

I gave them no instruction, just lead by example.  In my own little world, I continued to focus on my work and take pictures…attitude fully adjusted. 

A little while later I stopped to take a minute to look around.  I was totally astounded!  A whole gaggle of children had come to play with me...no less than nine kids had gotten busy building.  If I had to guess, I would say they ranged in age from 6 to 14. Cairns were popping up all over the place and despite the huge presence of wiggly little bodies haphazardly walking between my precariously built cairns, not a single one was knocked over.  Not one. 

I was completely dumbfounded.  Not only had the number of kids shot up to epic cairn-building proportions but there were several parents looking on and one parent had actually joined in on the fun. She told me later that she had been watching me try to balance a rock on its edge and couldn’t fathom how I would get it to stay there and when I did, she knew she had to get in and try it too.  Yay!!  At this point my heart was exploding with delight as I stood back and watched the scene unfold.  Kids were building all over the place.  They were helping each other and encouraging each other and laughing together when their work would fall.  They helped each other rebuild.  Everyone was so focused and they were enjoying themselves so much that I couldn’t help but shake my head and smile in amazement.

 

The oldest girl of the bunch had built a tall cairn with large rocks.  I was so completely impressed with her determination to rebuild after her beautiful cairn repeatedly fell.  The countdown was on though…it was almost time for them to leave.  “I must finish it!” she belted out.  It fell again.  One last go at it and with the clock ticking…wouldn’t you know…the Force was strong in her just then because every rock held on tight.  Despite our suggestions not to push the envelope, push it she did with two small rocks to the top and she came out victorious.  The beaming look of pride and accomplishment on that girl’s face was enough to carry me through to next month!

It turns out the kids were from a local children’s home and the parent I had struck up a conversation with was their House Parent.  They were there celebrating the 8^th birthday of one of the kids with a late evening trip to the park.  Looking at how the whole interaction happened and how both of us had arrived late, I can’t help but think we were somehow guided to be there and that we will each leave a lasting mark on the other.  The House Parent commented to me that she won’t be able to get in a creek ever again without playing with the rocks.  That is the best thing I have heard all week!  Earlier, she had also said in a loud exclamation, that I had inspired the whole lot of them, but the truth is, they’re the ones that inspired me…and that field full of cairns is exactly what I got.  That and a warm fuzzy feeling. :)