Scattered throughout my yard are rocks. They’ve been collected by previous owners, I assume, and gathered into small piles. Many were positioned previously for landscaping purposes but were covered by time under leaves and foliage. A couple of summers back I decided I was going to line the edge of the flower beds in the back with these rocks I was discovering. I wasn’t going to do anything crazy like stack them two high. I just wanted to create a little more distinction between the lawn and the beds. Some were good sized so I made sure I was wearing my safety flip flops. I arranged the rocks just so until I had connected two previously isolated rock formations that were already placed in the beds at far ends. It felt good joining them together. It looked good also. It still does.
I was inspecting it about a week ago and I found myself investigating some unique features of the rocks closely. I had noticed them before but they seemed more interesting on this day. Fossils. Almost every rock has at least one fossil. Shells mostly. That’s what I can make out anyway. Some of the shells are spirally and sit right on the surface of the rocks like they’re superglued. I got to wondering how long ago those shells were formed. Which gets one to wondering how long they’ve been fossilized for. Which got me to thinking about all the time that’s passed and all the things that have happened since. But those rocks just sit there with those fossils permanently attached like some kind of accessory. I’ll go about my days and you’ll go about yours. But those rocks will just sit until somebody or something moves them. Which is what rocks do while we do what we do.
