PocketRock Heart Project: So, What’s the Big Idea? (Part 6)

By Maik Strosahl

While driving home from Colorado, thinking about what I wanted to do for Katie, I also was thinking about all the people who have had an impact on me. Many of them I have lost contact with due to new jobs, moving across the country, and, well, the changes I made along the way.
    Wouldn’t it be nice to bridge the distance that has grown with time? Wouldn’t it be nice if instead of being further distanced by the state of world affairs, we could buck the trend and reach through time to share some good will? Those we may have wronged somehow, even those who currently are inspiring our steps, can we let them know how important they are to our daily lives?

    And so began The PocketRock Heart Project: It was time to say thank you to all the people who had that impact. It was time to tell all those who have been important to me through the years, that I still think of them, even if I can’t see or talk to them as we had in the past.

    There is too much social distance in this world. I believe it has become a worse pandemic than the disease we are so desperate to avoid. We need each other. We need to come together. And maybe we can do that by carrying a piece of those we feel close to in our pocket, perhaps a small memento that reminds us that someone thinks we are special. Perhaps it could be something as simple as a PocketRock Heart.

    Can something small become something big?
    I made an order on Amazon, wrote a poem and prepared to launch my project during our Christmas gathering at my sister Mari’s house.
    I was hopeful it would be a good day—a day for bridging some distance, a day to hold each other with laughter, a few tears and a day to enjoy some of Mari’s homemade soups.
    It was definitely a good day.

Copyright © 2022 by Maik Strosahl Michael E. Strosahl has focused on poetry for over twenty years, during which time he served a term as President of the Poetry Society of Indiana. He relocated to Jefferson City, Missouri, in 2018 and currently co-hosts a writers group there.