Happy, Happy, Happy

“If you haven’t looked in that box in a long time, don’t. Just take it straight to the trash.” I don’t know how many times these past few months I’ve been told that. But I couldn’t with this box. There was something about this one that tickled the back of my mind. I had to examine it closely.

The box had been packed since we lived in Hampton. It could even have been as far back as Kensington and we moved from that town in 1998 which meant the contents inside are older than that. The white cardboard is not a stiff as it once was and the tape is discolored and not sticking well; again, a sign of age. I remember this box sitting unopened in the third floor of the Hampton house.

Whatever, it feels forever ago since I viewed the items. Wait, it can’t be that long. I must have done a quick look at one time because there’s a date on the side of the beat-up cardboard stating “gone thru 2006;” which is the year I moved to Bradford, so I at least did a quick look before I moved.

I pull on the loose end of tape and it comes off easily. Older tape underneath is brittle. I open the flap with a sneeze as dust flies up in my face. The top layer is yellowed, crumpled, old newspaper. I pull out the uppermost ball and hear a trickling of small items tumbling down the inside of the box and a glass “chink.” Oh, I remember! These are gem stones.

I pull out the next batch of paper with more care. This one has a little weight and I cradle the weighted part in one hand and peel back the layers of paper.

“Yes! Finally! Light!” 

The words are whispered in my brain as if something has been released. In my hand is a small bowl full of polished stones; stones that have energy, stones that heal. (At one time I was really into it when I had my massage business.) I pull the bowl out of the paper and set it on the table. There is a happiness radiating from the stones that is almost palpable to me. That radiance reaches across the room.

I scoop a few stones into my hand. Agate, fluorite, lepidolite, hematite, crystal, citrine, malachite, and rose quartz… the names come to mind. I remember. I remember these stones. I love stones, have always loved stones. They call to me. (Stones always do.) These stones are so grateful to be brought out into the light. I can feel it.

I turn back to the box. The next layer is wrapped in old clothes; a bigger bowl, more stones and a fancy stand for the bowl to sit in. Other stones and rocks are unpacked. Some stones are local, ones I picked up while walking wooded trails or the beach, and will go out to enhance the flower gardens. But the gem stones are amazing. Some are pointed on one end and shaped as “wands.” There are pyramids, balls, and egg-shaped stones along.

I finish unpacking the box coming across a couple of amethyst clusters. Down the bottom is an old rabbit fur on which I used to set my stones. That, too, is disintegrating which adds to the dust. I dig out all the stones that fell to the bottom of the box. Oh, they are beautiful and are happy to be brought into the light.

The bowls are washed. The box and all the wrappings will got out to the trash. I will have to find a place in every room for a small bowl of stones. I can’t get over how much good energy is coming from the stones! How could I have hidden them away for so long? The will bring such good energy to this new house. What joy!