rocks, rocks everywhere . . .

so today . . . rollie and i went to the gem faire out at the orange county fairgrounds. this event lands at the fairground three times a year, i think. it has been a long time since we have gone, but i had tickets for free admission, and we had time, so off we went . . .

i LOVE rock shows. my dad is a "rock hound," and i remember going to rock shows with him when i was a kid. the venues weren't as big as they are now, but every single booth was stuffed with rocks--REAL ones--not glass beads or carved bone or silver charms and chains, but ROCKS! and these were not all cut and polished and set into jewelry--these rocks were raw and just waiting for US to cut and polish them and set them into jewelry. and we did. my dad would use his big rock saw (that had belonged to HIS grandfather, who shared his love for rocks) to cut the chunks into slabs. then i would look at piece after piece to find just the right one to cut into just the right shape, and then smooth and polish it so my dad could make it into a ring. i loved rings . . .

when we would go on vacation--the drive back to visit relatives in iowa--my dad didn't stop for much besides gas and food. but if we saw a good rock shop along the way, we could usually convince him that it was time to stretch our legs and check it out. and again, many times we returned to the car with a new rock in our possession.

one christmas, there was a huge box under the tree with my name on it. but the puzzling thing was that it was from my little brother. this box was big, and heavy, and it rattled. i was pretty sure it wasn't little shaped and scented soaps. it was too mysterious! on christmas morning i opened it without a clue about it's contents, and found . . . a bunch of gravel and crumpled up newspaper. it was pretty disappointing, because i had high hopes for what might be in that box (even if it was from my little brother.) and then, he pointed out the tiny wrapped bundle taped to one corner of the box. i opened it up, and there was a silver ring in the shape of a dragon, clutching a piece of polished sheen obsidian! it was a ring design i had fallen in love with, but hadn't been able to buy. and there it was, complete with a beautiful stone, in disguise, and under the tree just for me.

and then there were the rock tables. i don't know how many rock tables my dad made, but i wanted one so badly! so he said i could make a small one. he gave me some rocks to sort through and drew a circle the size of my little table so i could lay out the design. i picked the prettiest rocks, but what i really wanted was tiger's eye and i couldn't find any. when we started my table, my dad poured the resin into the form, carefully followed my "rock layout," added the crushed glass, and poured in more resin. we waited the requisite 10 days (i think) that seemed like forever for the table to dry. when the time came to pop it out of it's form, a miracle had occurred--there was a piece of tiger's eye in my little table after all!
several years after we were married, rollie bought me a beautiful amethyst ring for my birthday. we have a good friend who is a jeweler, and he and rollie had tracked down a lovely lilac colored stone cut in a very unique way and set it into a ring. it quickly became my favorite piece of jewelery, and my love for rocks began to take on a different look as rollie started collecting gemstones for me to wear.

when we were at the rock show today, looking at all those rocks in different colors and designs, i said to rollie, "you know, when God was creating the earth, He could have just made all the rocks the same--gray or blue or white--but He didn't. He used all these vibrant colors in all these different designs and forms, and then scattered them all over the world." when i think about it, the details of creation astound me. really. once, my goal was to collect one of each kind of rock and gemstone known to exist, but now i think that is an unattainable goal. new rocks are being discovered all the time--i can't keep up!

i love rocks. i feel all happy when i am looking at rocks. when i was little, i'm sure it was partly because of the connection i felt with my dad and his love for rocks, and i think that is probably still a part of it. i have a lot of good rock-related memories of my childhood. rollie continues to indulge my love for rocks--today, by going to the rock show with me and looking at rocks until his eyes were probably rolling back in his head. after we had walked up each and every aisle in the show, i said, "ok, we can go now." but he said, "no, we need to buy something to prove you were here!" because he knows that besides looking at all those beautiful stones, part of the fun of a rock shop is choosing something to take home to remind you of the fun you had looking at all those rocks . . .