Life in Nebraska You Gotta Live Somewhere

A Rock For My Birthday

It was 2006 and my stepdaughter Elsie was home in the Philippines, on vacation from her job in Hong Kong. It was nearing my birthday, and she asked what I would like from the Philippines for my birthday.

"I would like a rock." I replied.

A Birthday Rock From the Philippines

Needless to say, Elsie wasn't quite sure how to take this, after all, I do tend to tease her at times. There was a moment of silence when I told her my birthday wish, but I went on to explain that I wanted this Philippine rock signed by as many of the members of our family as possible, and Elsie realized that this would be very nice after all, and saw my reason for this request.

Elsie interrupted our phone call long enough to tell Jan-Jan (her daughter) that Grandpa wanted a rock for his birthday. As I listened in to Elsie and Jan-Jan's conversation, I overheard a bit of confused laughter in the background from Jan-Jan and her cousin.

As Elsie explained more thoroughly about Grandpa's birthday wish that the rock be signed by our family members, Jan-Jan caught on to what I really wanted. Grabbing her cousin's hand she ran towards the door and Elsie hollered to her "Where are you two going?"

"We're going to get Grandpa a rock!", and out the door and down the hill they ran to find the perfect rock for me. Near their home in the Philippines there are two rivers, and knowing the first river just didn't have a rock good enough for their grandfather, they hurried to the second river for the perfect rock.

Our phone conversation ended before they returned with the rock, but they did get one, and that's my signed birthday rock in the picture. Not everyone was there, and not everyone there was old enough to write yet. That long list of names in similar penmanship and black ink are Felix's childrens' names. Felix is my stepson, and is a year older than Elsie.

My Philippine Rock

Once my birthday rock arrived, I cut a section of a branch off our plum tree, took the bark off of it, and use this as the stand for my birthday rock, which stands in a place of honor on our bookshelf.

This was a very nice birthday present.