Many memories are embedded in hearts of stone

Two weeks ago I wrote about my habit of picking up heart-shaped stones.

I admitted I sometimes feel a little silly doing it, but I offer no apologies. Whenever I look at my collection of rocks, some more heart shaped that others, I am usually reminded of a pleasant time or place.

If the stone was a gift, I’m reminded of the giver. The serendipity of the find, the fact that loving eyes spotted it for me, makes it all the more special.

I suspected I would hear from a few others who also collect heart-shaped rocks. But I never anticipated the number of stories that came my way.

Some of what you told me made me smile. And, I’ll admit it; some of your stories put a lump in my throat.

Like me, some of you have rocks that are treasured because they were gifts from children; heart-shaped rocks picked up by sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters and offered lovingly as tokens.

Most of my heart-shaped stones are small, pocket-sized mementoes of an outing or vacation. But I heard from readers whose children discovered large stones and dragged or carried them back as gifts.

Clare Treadway’s daughters, while riding on a tractor in a Michigan field, unearthed a stone so large they had to have help bringing it back to her. Treadway has moved the big rock a number of times and now it ornaments her grown daughter’s garden.

Da Lene Szember has a large stone that was carried by her sons and their friends after they found it in a forest stream. “What a surprise I had when they came into the campsite with it,” she wrote. “They were so excited and so proud of themselves for getting it to me in one piece.”

Priscilla Morrison’s daughter Sara found a large heart-shaped stone that was too big to be carried. She couldn’t bring it home so she had someone take a photo of her sitting beside the stone. She gave the photo to Morrison who keeps it in a basket with other souvenir stones. Jayce Keeling’s granddaughter, Fiona, found a big heart rock beside Priest Lake.

Six-year-old Fiona carried the heavy rock back to the cabin, making sure that Keeling couldn’t get a good look at it. Later she wrote a note and placed it with the rock.

“The note said, ‘Grandma, for you because of our bond,’” Keeling wrote. “I had been telling her earlier that summer about the special love and connection that exists between some people and that a term for it is ‘bond.’ ” Like Keeling, Jan Heaton’s favorite stone in her collection is a large rock on which is written, “To my #1 Grandma.” It was a gift that was found, and then personalized by her granddaughter.

When Mona Bergstrom’s family was playing a game of capture the flag while camping at the “Heart Rock Hotel” a camp site in Colorado known for it’s heart-shaped rocks, her 6-year-old daughter left the game suddenly and started hurrying away from the family. When Bergstrom caught up with her, the little girl turned around. She was holding a large flat rock – “wider than she was” – in her arms.

“She pleaded with me not to capture her as she had ‘the power of love,’ and was too busy to be bothered with our game,” Bergstrom wrote.

Joanna Gear wrote to say that heart-shaped stones litter her house. “I have gathered my collection over the past twenty years all around the United States and Europe,” she said. “Although I think the prettiest ones come from the Oregon coast.” (I agree. Many of my own favorites were found on the beaches in Oregon.)

Donna Potter Phillips told me about her system for getting heart-shaped rocks. “It was a standing order that I would pay the grandkids $1 for good ones,” she said. “One really good one was coral and it was found on the beach in Hawaii.”

Phillips’ daughter, Jane Wood, also e-mailed me about the prized piece of coral found by her youngest son. It netted the young discoverer $5.

Wood also described the way her mother displays the stones.

“She and I went through them and picked out the best and I glued them to a piece of driftwood,” Wood wrote. “All the grandkids point out and talk about which one they found.” Wood described the arrangement as a source of pleasure for the entire family. “It really is a memory board of the places we have all been together,” she wrote.

Jeana Allison found her first heart-shaped rock while camping in Wallace, Idaho, in 1997, shortly after moving to the Spokane area from Seattle. It was her first camping adventure.

“The fire was glowing and as I stared into it, I meditated on how lucky I was,” Allison wrote. “And there, right next to my feet, was a huge red heart-shaped rock.”

Now, wherever she goes, Allison keeps one eye on the ground, looking for new additions to her collection.

Children aren’t the only ones who find heart-shaped stones and give them away.

Marty Hunter, a police sergeant at the Spokane Airport called to tell me about her ability to spot heart-shaped stones and how she loves to give them as gifts. When she married, she framed a stone and gave it to her new husband.

Then, as if to prove her point, Hunter spotted a new stone that very afternoon and sent it to me.

Susan Burrows of Sandpoint also told me about giving a heart-shaped rock as a wedding present. “Back in the mid-‘70s I was on my way to my sister’s wedding in Crested Butte, Colorado,” Burrows said. “But I had cluelessly not even thought of a wedding present.”

Somewhere along the way, Burrows picked up a large, reddish, heart-shaped rock and gave it to the newlyweds. “They still have it after 35 years.”

Carol Stobie of Spokane Valley, and her husband, frequently give one another heart-shaped stones. “Our heart-shaped rock exchange began maybe 20 years ago when he found a perfect flat rock and saved it to give me on Valentine’s Day,” she wrote. “We became avid collectors from that day.”

Jan Wigen wrote to share a particularly moving story: Shortly after the death of her 2-year-old granddaughter, Megan, a number of years ago, Wigen was walking on the beach and wrote “Oma Jan loves you Megan,” in the sand.

As she walked down the beach she wished for some sign that Megan was with her. A few paces later she found a solitary heart-shaped stone in the sand.

“It was the start of a wonderful collection,” Wigen said. “I have wonderful friends who are finding rocks for me and I love it.”

Thanks to each of you who called or wrote to tell me your story. I’ll never feel silly about my cache of stones again.