My Only Sunshine

 Elizabeth Mitchell -http://youtu.be/4Z_8PI0AKHg

When I created The Heart Pebble Movement, I could not have imagined how many lives would be affected. It is interesting how an element of nature, which can be found all over the earth, is the foundation that I find the most solace in.

There is a friend of mine who out of everyone I know, has released the most amount of pebbles in Shayla’s memory. Before she travels, we meet and she is one of my cherished girlfriends who I entrust with a few treasured pieces of my daughter’s collection. Time after time, Katherine has brought back to me, pictures and video of the brilliance in setting the pebbles free.

Last year, we met in unfortunate circumstances. She had lost her beloved husband and I, my precious child. What initially brought us together in sorrow has seen us share in many dinners- with tears flowing and laughter between us- we openly talk about our grief. 

                                         

                                      Morro Strand State Beach ~

Without wanting to sound morbid, Katherine and I chat about death as if it were wedged in between our booth seats. We acknowledge our pain in order to process our loved one’s passing. Our sense of humour is now tinged with the afterlife and our relationship is known to circle around the what-if’s…mostly on my part.

Yet, whenever we meet and she hands me a USB stick of a video of California, where she set in the ocean one of my daughter’s pebbles, I simply melt from the kindness and effort she took in letting it go. In January, she embarked on a trip to Las Vegas. What impressed upon me was the time she delegated to where and how another small rock would be put into water. She chose a fountain where the lights are all coloured and seem to dance effortlessly across the top of the water. Thin columns of vibrancy shooting up into the air and cascading down, over and over was the background for the pebble. It makes my heart skip along as a smile comes over me. 

Las Vegas ~

Several months later, she would be in the Yukon with her daughter Jasmine. Once again the thoughtfulness in taking part of The Heart Pebble Movement is a poignant moment.

One thing I have come to cherish about Katherine is how much she sincerely gets what the cause means to me as a bereaved mother. Although neither of us can imagine what the others loss is like, we have found a middle ground in sharing our tragedies... echoing the sentiments that we do not walk alone. 

“Never be afraid to fall apart because it is an opportunity to rebuild yourself the way you wish you had been all along.”

By T L. Alton