Once upon a time, a stone lay quietly in the dark. Sometimes the darkness was damp, sometimes dry, sometimes unbelievably cold in a frozen tundra kind of sensation, and sometimes soothing in that perfect temperature for resting and relaxing kind of way.
The stone could hear many noises as it lay still in the darkness day after day. At least once a week it would proclaim to those surrounding it one day I am going to see what makes the sounds we hear. The others would laugh and remind the stone it was being silly. Don’t be ridiculous, your natural state is to be unmoving. You aren’t able to rise up from where we are all laying.
The stone somehow knew differently.
Faithfully it lay in the dark as time passed. And passed.
And passed more.
Then one day, the dampness came but it brought something more shortly after arriving. Soon dampness turned to sogginess. Then sogginess turned to muddiness Every stone near the stone started to get a little nervous. Another stone swore it felt itself moving a little. No one else laughed this time.
Suddenly, there was a loud swwwoooosssshhhhhhh sound and the stone along with all the others felt themselves slipping and sliding. First rather slowly, and then once gravity took hold, there was much rolling and tumbling. The stone could see light as it felt itself doing somersaults. Dark, roll, light, roll, dark, roll, light, roll.
Light. The stone was no longer moving. It looked around and it was so bright everywhere. The stone could hear one of the familiar noises it had heard in the dark. A dripping sound. And what was that? It sounded like water being poured. Continually. It felt like it, too, against the stone as it lay in what was now light.
A few hours later it was dark again, but the dark was different. For one, it was continually wet where stone lay. And stone could look up and see dots of light instead of pure darkness. The stone lay there taking in the new surroundings. It called out to the other stones it had been in the dark with before finding itself in this new place. The stone heard a mixture of reactions. Some were concerned. Others nervously laughing. No one seemed to be hurt, though. Just uncertain, questioning if anyone would be returning to the darkness. Or if this was now home.
Time passed. And passed.
And passed more.
The stone lay there observing the light and the dark with scattered light and it continually lay in the wet. Over time, the stone started to feel different. Before coming to this new place stone had some jaggedness to its body. “A little rough around the edges” was the phrase the elder stones like to use to describe stone. As the stone felt itself altering, it also started to sense change was coming. That it had a purpose it was going to be fulfilling that would mean it wouldn’t always be lying in this wet space.
The stone would say one day I will be doing something very meaningful besides laying here where it is always wet and light for part of the day and dark and light for the other half. The other stones around it would laugh and say Don’t be ridiculous, your natural state is to be unmoving. You aren’t able to swim away.
The stone somehow knew differently.
Faithfully it lay in the dark as time passed. And passed.
And passed more.
And then one day the stone felt itself rising up with the help of something soft that seemed to cradle the stone with long pillars of some kind. The stone felt itself being touched and the stone burst out laughing when one of the pillars rubbed the stone’s sides, feet, and top of the head. Stone heard perfect as it felt itself being set on top of other stones in some kind of contraption on a single wheel.
Then the stone felt itself slightly scraping against the other stones as it bounced and jostled along. Then the bouncing stopped, and the stone felt itself rising again with the pillars gently cradling its body.
Then the familiar feeling of dampness against the stone’s back but the light was still above the stone. The stone was not submerged back in complete dampness and dark. And it wasn’t continually wet, the sound of pouring water gone.
After a few hours of darkness with dots of light familiar to the stone from the last place the stone had been, and a couple of hours of pure light, the stone heard the sound of joyous laughter and then a beautiful voice singing. Then that same beautiful voice said this cobblestone path is perfect weaving through our flower beds.
And the stone knew it had, at long last, reached where it was meant to be.