The Queen of Hearts

“Happy Valentine’s to the Queen of Hearts!

 This was the message that awaited me as I logged onto Facebook Valentine’s Day morning. It was a gift from a wonderfully witty, equally sarcastic and an extremely loving woman.  She happens to be the mother of one of my friends.  I love her company.  She has lived through her share of heartache and loss, but somehow she manages to make those around her smile and laugh, really laugh! However she does not hide behind a curtain of laughter she shares from her heart.  Whether the emotion is good, joyous, dark or painful touches you deeply. I love her for that.

  This simple sentence was packed with acknowledgement.  The “Queen of Hearts” refers to the countless heart shaped images that I have found and shared. My friends may not comment on a photo that I post but they are affected by it.  Every so often someone will post a heart photo or image to my wall and each time the post begins with.

“This reminded me of you.” or “I saw this and I thought of you.

   For forty eight plus years I have walked this earth and had never found or saw a heart shaped image in nature.  A little over two and a half years ago I happened to read two memoirs where the authors’ spoke of finding heart shaped rocks in Montana and heart shaped sea glass in Italy.   Two totally different places and removed from one another by thousands of miles, but they shared a common bond, the heart.

   Several months after reading these books I was out for a lunchtime walk. While walking I thought of those memoirs and said to myself “Why have I not found any hearts in nature?”  Ironically, (well, if you understand how the Universe works there wasn’t any irony at all) during that walk I came across my first heart shaped rock.   I found my talisman, well really, it found me.   

  These past few years I have shared many of the hearts that I have encountered.  They have appeared in rocks, pavement stains, clouds, leaves, snow, and road debris.  Each one is unique and conveys its own message.

  I have stumbled across a broken heart….

 

 Light hearts……

A hollow heart………

 

Puddle hearts…..

 

 A gummy  heart…….

A two toned heart……..

 

Sedona hearts….

 

 Montana hearts…..

And those found in Miami….

 

Pavement hearts….

 

Ice hearts…

 

……and tree hearts.....

 

   The heart is the keeper of life and the holder of emotions.  Each and every heart image that I encounter causes me to pause and remember that we are connected, loved and alive.  People ask me how I find all of these hearts.  This past summer I attended a work related dinner with one of the people who had asked me that question.  A quick thunderstorm had passed through.  As we arrived at the restaurant I spotted a heart shaped wet spot in the parking lot.  As this woman walked over it I said to her. “Stop and look down.” 

 She did and exclaimed “It is a heart!”

“See, they are around all of us. You just have to take the time to notice.  I do not possess any special talents.  I’m just aware.” I said.

    And recently I have learned another heart lesson.  Last week while snowshoeing with my friend I came across this stray piece of tree bark resting upon the newly fallen snow.   Seeing what I did, a heart in a piece of tree bark, I stopped to take a few pictures.   In their natural state they were amazing.  A little off center, but the shadow cast beyond the bark made the picture a double heart.

 

  Using Instagram I took the same photo, cropped it, enlarged it and changed the lighting. In the matter of moments I possessed a truly magical photo.

 

  I was astonished by the results of the tweaking. Looking at the enhanced photo I got the lesson.  We can airbrush and enhance ourselves.  It may be through fashion, makeup or false airs. We can do all of the masking, covering and hiding that we would like but in the end when the enhanced layers are removed we are ourselves, beautiful at the core and true to our hearts!