Pieces of our Journeys

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  ~ Mark Twain

A few years ago, in my quest to know more about my Dad I learned of a tradition he has been following for years. I had gone to the island for a respite and while there decided to see the graves of my grandparents, great grandparents etc.

There, at the base of my great grandfathers marker were rocks, all sorts of different kinds of rocks. I was confused, "who the heck would be putting these all around here?" My brother told me they came from my father. Dad had heard years earlier of an old Jewish tradition of bringing to the grave site of a loved one pieces of your journeys.

There at the base of the grave were pieces of Thailand, Papua New Guniea, Madagascar, Saudi Arabia, Columbia, the North West Territories and every where else in the world my father's travels had taken him. I was stunned. This was a side of Dad I hadn't seen or heard about. From that moment on I started to learn not only a little more about Dad but about Grandpa McNiven too.


I asked Dad to visit the grave site with me when I was there this last week. I asked about the rocks and where they came from and how he found out about the tradition. "Oh", he said, "just something I had read about". 


I have a deeper appreciation for Dad now. I hope someday to see all of the journals of his travels and maybe find a way to publish them for the family. They are the pieces of his journey.


Sometimes, when I pick up a book or when I am working on a geological map at work I can understand why I love these things so much.  They are a part of me. Maybe that's why A loves his cruises or why M has done so well in the energy field. 


Each of us carry within us pieces of our histories and we lay at the markers of our lives. Much like the rocks at the base of the grave, pieces of us reside in all of our families, in our relationships, in the way we interact. The physical remnants of Dad's journeys are the rocks at the base of the marker. For each of us, our pieces are the emotions, the reactions, the peace from the learning we did along the way that signify our journeys. 


I am grateful, yes, I am saying it again; grateful for everything my life has passed by. Maybe someday this very blog will be the rocks that my grandchildren can have to know who I was and can maybe learn as they read about all the ways not to do it. 


LOL.