There have always been these stones at my feet and in my way... And the path I was undertaking, well, clearly I was desperately trying to find my way through the rugged ground beneath. And today, as I recall those very same stones of life. When I look back to where it all began, I am better able to understand their meaning and their reason...

You see, these stones in the road remained beneath my feet from even when I was a child. And, I began these walks with my grandmother, my Mama in this place we called “the Country.” On those walks she told me all about the stones in the road and the path we must take. The path was rugged yet our hearts were strong. We talked about the rocks under our feet as we made music with them as we walked along... At the time, that old gravel had no meaning or purpose at all. Yet, on those walks she spelled life out for me so that as a child I would know how to belong.

We would talk and talk about life, from the littlest of pleasures to the hardest of truths. All the while we would collect the gravel, the stones as we called them... We'd find the prettiest ones or those with the most character to add to our collection of plain old rocks stored on a paper plate in the kitchen. I can recall it as if it was just yesterday on that old gravel road, we called stone.

I walked down that path with her “a many a time,” as she would say if she were still here. And now that she is in Heaven, I am blessed to know that she told me about those stones in the road and about this path we take in life. Amazingly enough how the symbolism lies beneath my feet now and I can clearly see. It dwells in my heart as another fond memory with her at my side and I know she's still there or I wouldn't be writing this about some old rocks...

For, without the stones of my life...those I’ve gathered and those I've thrown away, I wouldn't have known my path and all that I must embrace. I now know that there are stones that matter to our meaning, to our purpose and there's some that just don't. It's truly all the same, but God gives us the choice.

There are roads full of stones in our path. Then, there are stones in the road. The difference lies within ourselves. We shall see them as obstacles or we shall see them as pure gravel with no bearing on who we are and all that we shall be. If we persevere through all the rocks that block our way, then they cannot define our path. Better yet, if we choose the stones that suit us best, well, then we have passed the test. Forever more, stones in the road shall lie in my memories of long walks with Mama as we collected them to keep. And, as a tradition I try to remember to bring home a rock or a stone from anywhere I travel. For, I don’t know what happened to those rocks on that paper plate, all I know is their meaning was so much more than I ever knew until today.