ROCKS: WHY I COLLECT THEM

I did a tally this year of the amount of rocks that I have in my yard that have accumulated over the fifteen years I've lived here.  They amount to over 650.  I have them all around my house and in my gardens.  I've collected them from B.C, Alberta and Saskatchewan.  Where ever I go, I bring one or two home with me, but most of them have come from my Mom's rock pile on her farm.  There are big rocks, small rocks, pebbles, round rocks, flat rocks and rocks of all shapes and sorts.  There are white rocks, red rocks, grey rocks and a mix of all different kinds of colours.  But the one thing I think they all have in common is that they are old, and that is why I like them so much.  

They are most likely the oldest thing I have in my possession.  I like to imagine that some of them were around when the earth was being formed. They must hold stories that would amaze the most brilliant geologists.  

I've had a fascination for rocks since I was a B.C. farm girl.  I remember going down to the creek that ran across our property in Flatrock and seeing the great rock spread.  At that age, I don't think I could have been more fascinated with the Grand Canyon than I was with the creek in our own back yard.  I didn't have a narrative then that allowed me to imagine them as four billion year old playmates, but they were amazing none the less.  

I feel grounded with presence of rocks that were around when no humans were here.  It's like they have a purity about them that wasn't messed with because of the absence of the human factor.  I can hold one rock in my hand and have every generation of humanity that ever existed pass by me in that moment.  We are but a spec of dust in Earth's timeline by comparison.  

I don't know how old my rocks are.  I can only imagine.  I can do a Google search and come up with some numbers that geologists have put out there, but when it comes down to the actual ages, I can only imagine.  I guess that is what makes it so wonderful.  I have no limits.  The data isn't really that important when it comes to connecting with Earth's primal energy that formed those very rocks.  That is exciting for me.  

I think when the sun comes up, I will go outside and spend some time with that energy and take some pictures of my rocks.