Hide and Go Seek Happy

 The little park where Lucy and I go for walkies has a group who hides painted rocks for people to find. Looking for them is a fun thing to do while you're walking the pathways.  It's a silly, simple thing for them to do and it makes people - me, I'm people - happy.

I try to leave the rocks there when I spot them.  I just feel guilty about taking them when I know someone else will enjoy it as much/more than I will.  I know, I know, I have issues. Some are beautifully painted, some are silly, some are obviously painted by little hands. 

There are two that I couldn't resist bringing home: one is cute bee and one is a Seahawks.  The Seahawks one is a paper weight/place holder on my desk and the bee one sits with my rock, shells and feather finds on the window sill.  Oh, wait, three rocks. The other is a small mandala that I don't know how I spotted but I did.

Yesterday Lucy and I were doing the walkies thing and I just wasn't in the mood.  I had work to do when I got home and knew I had to be in the office today and everything was just making me feel itchy.

This park features old growth trees and logging remnants from the early 1900's.  There is a group of stumps along this path where there are spaces carved out for the loggers to slide in boards to stand on while sawing the tree down.  Many times there are rocks hidden in plain sight there.

I've walked past this stump hundreds of times and
never noticed the eyebrows.  I'll look closer next time.

Yesterday was the mother lode.  Yesterday was my favorite, like, ever:

Yep, it's the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie mouse.

I actually gasped and mentioned to Lucy how perfect that was. (she wasn't as impressed)  It is one of my all time favorite children's book and I refer to it all the time.  The mouse and I are very similarly wired.

Because: issues, I told her that we'd leave it there for a little one to find.  We were halfway through our walk and for the remainder of it, I kept thinking about that perfect rock.  

So we circled around again - much to Lucy's delight - and I brought it home.  The Universe had spoken, it was meant to be mine.  It's a medium sized rock, smooth and heavy.  The painting is perfectly done.  It was worth juggling Lucy's lead, my phone, and the rock for the rest of the walk. (don't put heavy rocks in your shorts pockets, just a little tip from me)

It's sitting on my desk because it makes me happy to look at it.  It will find a home somewhere eventually but right now: it's front and center.

To quote Gregisms on the ticktock: Find Your Joy.