From the Playground

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So there was this little girl and she found a rock.

She held it in her hands like in a clasped hug. She loved this rock. She thought she found Gold and in a way she did. Well, she goes to her dad and said look you won’t believe what I found. She opened her hand and her dad was like oh you found a stone. That’s cool. Listen love, see how much you can get for it.

She said, DAD but it’s just a rock. No one WILL BUY a rock. Her Dad said just promise me you’ll try and when someone makes you an offer tell me. She looked back and said ok. She walked out of the house and into the street.

The first person she saw she showed them this rock and said, hey excuse me sir I got this rock and uh are you interested in purchasing it? The man looked at her and peeked in at the rock, shrugged his shoulders and said, I’ll give you $5.00. Her eyes went wide and said really? You’ll pay me for this rock. He said yea. She said ok hold on let me tell my dad.

She runs back to her dad. Tells him and he responds oh, ok keep walking and ask someone else. She said, BUT DAD he’s giving me 5.00 for a rock!!!

He said walk on. Get another offer.

So she did and the next person was inside of a pawn shop. She walked right in there and was like excuse me Ma’m I got this rock and I want to see how much it’s worth? The women peered over the counter took the rock out of the little girl’s hand. Looked at it and weighed it. She said I’ll give you 50.00 for it. The little girl was shocked!

She ran out the store told her dad and he said walk on.

The little girl said BUT DAD this lady’s giving me 50.00!! Her Dad said walk on and ask someone else. So she did. She walked into a museum right, a Stone Museum. This special stone place filled with rocks! She walked right in there, head held all high and said hey excuse me everyone, I have a “stone” and I want to see how much it’s worth. Well, the museum people carefully looked at this little girl, took the stone out of the little girls hands with gloves inspected it carefully, like real carefully. A gentlemen came over, and put even put on these special glasses and carefully chiseled a bit away on this rock/stone. You could tell these guys we serious about some stones. They were stone collectors and they genuinely loved rocks and all that. So, they started asking her a lot of questions of where she found it, how she cared for it, what it’s name was, who it belongs to, when she found it, why it was special to her. She thought about the last question a lot. She thought about how she felt when she first found it before telling her dad and before him asking her to get money for it. And she said well when I first saw it—it was the most different, the most original stone I ever found, that I ever saw before. I never seen a stone like it in my life. And, well, I held it like I’d never find another one like it. I cleaned it — I carried it and protected it.

They started asking her more questions about her stone.

The whole time they wrote down everything. After their conversation they placed this stone next to another stone in a special case. They walked around and admired it. They said look how it stands out in this case! They looked at the little girl and said give us a few moments we need to deliberate on this. We are speechless. After several HOURS — the stone collectors returned and asked how much do YOU want for it? What will be your highest and lowest that you’d take for it? The little girl again was in shock. She said hold on. She said can I have my stone back? I need to go talk to my Dad about this! They said okay.

They wrapped the stone in special silk and handed it to the little girl. The little girl held it. Clasped it. She ran to her Dad.

She said DAD the museum people — the stone collectors—you won’t believe this! — they asked ME how much it’s worth?!!

Her Dad smiled. He asked her, well how much? Cause that’s what matters most.

— What matters most is how much you think it’s worth before you even showed me it. Nobody else. Never settle. ((You know how much she got for that stone? Mannnn, amazing!))