Thanks for the kind words, flowers and rock stories

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who offered condolences about my mom. Thanks for the cards, calls, emails, donations, flowers and — in many cases — stories about your rocks.

A few days after I wrote about my mom and Mia and the book, “Everybody Needs a Rock,” I found a package on my doorstep. It was about the size of a toaster, but heavier. When I opened it up, beneath a card and in the middle of crumpled newspaper, there was a rock, slightly larger than a baseball and full of subtle colors. It was a from a friend who moved from Jacksonville to Maine a few years ago. On the bottom, the rock was perfectly flat, as if it were made to rest on something. But on the top, it was rounded in a way that when I picked it up with one hand, it fit into my palm, as if made for it.

“The kids and I were on a beach recently and I found two rocks out of the thousands that seemed to speak to me,” the friend wrote. “I am sending you one in celebration of your mom, my mom’s life and as a reminder of our friendship.”

All I can say is thank you to everyone. And here’s to moms, friends and rocks.