skipping stones

I remember skipping stones growing up in Westline, Pa., a town where my father was born- in his house. The area is filled with beautiful streams, trout, a raw air aloft in its inhabitance. 

We would go to Westline many weekends during my young years, to help my grandparents with outdoor chores, then go fishing at the end of the day as a treat. On Monday mornings my brother and I would hear about the fun our friends had back home in East Aurora while we were gone. It’s just something we were made to do.

I consider my current state of mind at age 60. I then think about life as a continuum. For me, my end points represent the extremes of despair and joy. Struggling emotionally for many years to become mature, peak events in my life such as becoming a father and quitting alcohol began to form definition and purpose within me. 

So why would I then think about skipping stones as a metaphor for life’s reconciliation?

Life has slowed for a moment. My sons are back home. I don’t have to commute anymore. I appear healed from prostate cancer. The house rumbles with my wife’s laughter. 

Maybe then what my mind is doing, in its new found strength, is allowing itself to make peace with the past.

When I look back and consider skippings stones, I remember the effort made to find the perfect rock. It took a little bit of time and patience to find the right shape and feel to determine which one would skip and slither best. Yes, it had to be flat, but in clinching its surface, smooth feel, was there comfort in it to be found.

Once you felt you had the best rock, all that was left to do was give it the right hurl. You don’t want to waste a stellar rock on a hasty toss. And when the rock was right, and the throw controlled and natural, time stood still, as light bounces of joy found its potential in crossing to the other side.

Looking back, I now wish I had made the same effort earlier in life to ponder my own shape and feel and how it might travel across to the other side.

 I was reluctant to stop, bend down, and consider the possibilities. 

That is in the past. 

All that is important now, years later, is to keep looking for the right rock.