About four years ago, we were camping and went on a little hike. The kind of slow, meandering adventure you take when your hiking pal is not even two. Somewhere along the trail, Mae spotted something that caught her eye: a small rock painted bright blue. In black marker, it simply said, “You Matter.”
We were probably supposed to leave it there – part of one of those kindness rock projects, meant to brighten the day of whoever stumbled upon it next. But Mae, with her tiny hands and big heart, picked it up and held it like treasure. There was no convincing her to put it back.
That little rock has sat on a shelf in her room ever since. It’s become part of the background of her growing-up years; a small, cheerful reminder that kindness has a way of sticking around.
Looking at the picture of that day makes me wax nostalgic. I can still see her in her little pink shoes and tiny fingers gripping that rock like it was pure magic. It makes me yearn for those days when she was itty bitty, when everything she found was a wonder.
Someone once painted that rock not knowing it would end up in the hands of a toddler who’d keep it for years. But maybe that’s the beauty of it. A message meant for anyone ended up exactly where it belonged.
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Packing for Adventure 
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