Brightening Someone’s Day with Rocks

Maybe this is becoming somewhat of a tradition. Each summer Nicole heads to a number of conferences across the nation. Some to attend, some to speak. In nearly all cases the family doesn’t come along. The travel expenses would just be too much for our family to afford, so we pick and choose which ones we tag along to.

We can’t pass on Gen Con or Origins Game Fair since playing board games is our family’s hobby and passion. We’ve gone to New York on more than one occasion and have started running out of things to see there. Last year the girls and I embarked on a home project that yielded some beautiful decorations for our garden and landscaping – Pet Rock Ladybugs!

There was a recent article on our local news about groups painting what they were calling “Positivity Rocks”. They would decorate smooth river rocks with painted designs and quotes of a positive nature and then leave them in random places for people to find. The idea is that someone will see them and smile, hopefully brightening their day. When we saw the story, we knew we already had the supplies from last year’s project around, so we started creating our own!

We began by grabbing some almost-symmetrical stones from our landscaping and giving them a thorough wash. I had a half gallon of latex primer left over from remodeling the basement, so we elected to give each rock a heavy coat of white to help the final colors pop.

From there we let our imagination run wild. We experimented with positive sayings, but in the end just tried to be creative in our designs so they would catch someone’s eye. From emoji-styled small rocks to a large one made to resemble a large sushi roll, we were sure these were unique enough to bring a smile to anyone’s face.

After a LOT of painting, we decided to help protect them with a few coats of clear polyurethane left over from yet another project. This really brought out the colors and will help protect them from the elements.

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been carrying them around in our van, leaving them behind when the mood fits us. One was left in the eye doctor’s parking lot, another at Grammy’s front doorstep. Three were strewn around the campus of Palmer Chiropractic College – the place where we have our weekly game nights. And of course our local park is the welcome recipient of many others.

I’m sure some will be stolen, and we’re fine with that. As long as they bring happiness to someone, then our good deed is done.

Have you ever left hidden surprises somewhere for a random person to find?