December 3, 2015
(If we live with an open and
grateful attitude, every day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during
the year I turned 70.)
It’s funny how I can walk the same path for many
days and on my 50th trip, I find something I hadn’t noticed before.
Today as I walked in Downs Park, I went along the path from the regular beach
toward the dog beach. There is a sign for the dog beach with an arrow that is
located on step seats overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. I’ve walked by here
hundreds of times but I must not have sat on the steps recently because all I
needed was about 12 more inches in height in order to notice something special.
It was only by stepping up on the bottom step that I could see a group of painted
stones with words and numbers written on them.
I was intrigued. At first, I thought maybe these
stones were a memorial to deceased pets but the names were not typical pet names.
Those having dates on them had only one date. Was it a birth date or a death
date?
Curious about the story behind these stones, I asked a park ranger in the
main office. There was a story. I learned that a group of families
who had lost babies in birth or shortly after birth had asked the park for
permission to put this handmade memorial in the park in a perfect location
overlooking the Bay. They were probably looking for closure and something tangible
in a natural setting. Now that I know the narrative, the stones have become
something more beautiful, a spot for me to stop each day. I learned that just
one step can make a difference.
My
gift today is one step up.
> Day 360: Connecting the Dots
You can find links to my other posts on this project here:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html
