Stones

As a child I always loved to collect pebbles on the beach. In the sunlight and drenched in seawater they shone with magical colours which had always vanished by the time I arrived home. I learnt very early in my life the lesson "all that glitters is not gold." I did eventually learn that if I wet them again they would regain some of their magic or if I tumbled them for a long time they would eventually become semi-precious stones fit to be worn as jewellery. I still look for interesting pebbles and rocks on the beach to take home. The activity reawakens the child in me as I look for enchantment in unexpected places.

I was reminded of this during a visit to John Ruskin's home in the Lake District last weekend. Ruskin was a great thinker and do-er and also a very accomplished artist, recording what he saw in detail. He stated that one could see a mountain in every small stone or rock and there was an example of this by his desk, where a small stone, which was exhibited on a shelf, had been executed as a pencil drawing. With no suggestion of anything in the picture to indicate scale the image did indeed resemble a mountain, with peaks and crevices, and I was reminded of Blake's line, "to see the world in a grain of sand." Every rock is a piece of Creation, produced when the earth was newborn. We ignore the seemingly mundane yet beauty is present everywhere if we permit ourselves to actually see. We - society- have become adept at looking without seeing.

I have a very special rock bought at the time of my silver wedding anniversary. It is a piece of rock crystal which is joined at its base and splits into two, looking like two fingers . My son bought it for my late husband and I as a tribute to the love we shared and the home we had put together. He said that the stone had existed for all time and would last for all time and he wanted that to symbolise our marriage. I was very moved by this, but when I look at the crystal now, I am close to tears. My husband died a month after our 29th wedding anniversary, with paramedics working on his body, whilst I looked on, helpless and terrified.

That was over two years ago and I am shortly to remarry an angel who found me when I was not looking for anyone. The crystal stands in our room alongside photos of our previous partners to remind us that true love never dies but remains constant through time, but also that it is possible to love again...........