We were out in the ocean floating around in the salty waves and they kept creeping out deeper and deeper into the ocean.

“Mom, come out further” he said.

“No way” I said, mostly because I didn’t want him to keep moving out further.

“If you come out further, I will give you a really special rock that I found” he said, holding up his clenched hand as a wave washed over his face. He shook his head, wiped the salty water from his eyes and shot me a grin knowing that he had just won.

I smiled at him as I swam out further. He knew me well and knew that I couldn’t resist a really good rock, specifically one that he wouldn’t show me first. He laughed at me as he handed over the rock.

We bobbed in the ocean laughing about the seaweed and the kids playing on the shore. I truly cherished moments like this. Moments where I was present, with nothing but my kids on my mind. I craved time at the ocean with my children with nowhere else to be and nothing else to do. Moments where he got all of me and I got all of him. I had been deeply contemplating what I really wanted my life to look like for the past week. I was working to let go of any limits that I was placing on myself. To let go of things that society had told me I needed to do and really focus on what I wanted to do. Where did I even want to live? What kind of lifestyle did I want? I knew that moments like this made me feel whole and I wanted more of them.

Eventually, I took my rock and swam back to the shore. When I got back to the blanket I began to actually look at the rock. On one side, it looked like a regular circular rock and on the other side it was a perfect heart. As I held it in my hand I got thinking about how life is just like this rock. If you look at it one way, it is just ordinary and boring but if you are willing to flip it upside down and backwards, you just might find love.