Mostly Poetry

Occasionally my son and I go to the river near our house on my lunch breaks. There’s a nice walkway that stretches between a couple of bridges, and we typically spend most of our time throwing rocks in the river near either bridge.

My son always asks a lot of questions (he’s three) but the most common one I get at the river is “can we get some more rocks?”

Of course we can. There are always more rocks.

There are some large rocks piled up on the slopes on each side of the river and thousands of little ones right next to the path near the bridges … the supply really seems endless. We usually pick from the small rocks that are right off the walking path, but occasionally “daddy” (that’s me) will go to one of the slopes with the “big rocks” and grab a big heavy rock for my son to throw in.

Today, after we threw one of the “big rocks” into the river, my son asked if we could get another one. I told him “no”, because the big rocks are actually there for a purpose… and we don’t want to use them up too quickly.

That’s why we save the big rocks for last, and when we do throw them—we try to make them count. Make a big splash, and make sure you’re watching so you don’t miss it.

We can throw another big rock next time we come to the river.

Some people might not like that we throw the big rocks. I’m sure that someone who works for the city has to replenish them occasionally. It’s perfectly possible that another human being is inconvenienced by my three year old son throwing the big rocks.

That’s why we save the big rocks for last, and when we do throw them—we try to make them count.

Next time you are throwing rocks into the water, remember that there’s no shortage of small rocks. You can throw a lot of them and never make a dent in the supply. If you do throw a big rock, be sure to make it count. If someone is watching, make sure it’s the right someone, and make sure you throw it at just the right time so that everyone sees the big splash.

~wbv