Tucked back in
its special place, surrounded by mint is my "Monkey Rock". When
I was just a child my grandma, had a rock in her mint garden.
I remember asking her what was underneath the rock and she told me
the story of my grandpa and his pet monkey. When the monkey
died, he had buried it there and placed the rock as a marker. I
called it the "Monkey Rock". I never wanted to weed around the
rock for fear of digging up "monkey bones". When I moved
back "home" and into Grandma's house, it had long disappeared. It
became my quest to find it. After searching the neighborhood and walking
the fence lines, using only this black and white picture as my
guide, I finally found it! All these years
it was buried upside down along the base of my own house. Years
ago my grandma had mint growing here too and now so do I. An
inquisitive little monkey sits besides the rock as a memory to my
childhood.
My yard is filled with many memories from my childhood, memories
I clinge to and that make me who I am today. Each holds a special
place in my yard and now they have returned home, just like me to
be shared with the next generation. They each have special stories
to tell. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.
In another special place sits my "Lilac Rock",
finally returned to it's home after over 25 years. This rock
sat along side of the outhouse. Grandma and I used to sit on
it to shuck peas or snip beans on a hot summer day shaded by the lilac
bush. When I moved home, it had somehow mysteriously moved
from this yard to the yard next door which had been my Aunt's
house. Over the years, I asked my neighbor Chris if I could
have it. Each time reluctantly she said no because she liked
to sit on it. In 2003 she gifted me the rock after 23 years
of looking at it over the fence. My daughter Allison gave me
the lilac bush that year for Mother's Day which now sits over it,
growing each year with more tradition and memories for the future
generations to enjoy. And now her daugther Skylar shares in those
traditions and memories, sitting under the lilac bush with her mom
(in 2009) holding Lily of the Valleys she bought me from her yard.
The Lily of the Valley's were Skylar's great, great, great grandmother's
plants and still grow in her yard.
