Why I Have a Rock in My Bathroom
Every year, we go to the beach, and every year we have a great time. Last year, we went to Torremolinos. We kind of had a routine on that trip; we would go to breakfast, go back to our room and get ready for the beach, go to the beach for practically the entire day, head to the pool around 4 or 5 pm, swim for an hour or so, then head upstairs to take showers and get ready for dinner.
One day, towards the end of our trip, T1 and T2 started playing as soon as we got to the beach. They were digging in the sand and playing with some trucks. I was sorting out towels on chairs and sunscreen, etc. I noticed T2 was playing kind of near something weird looking, and Hubs noticed it as well. He caught my eye and said “Is he standing over a pile of poop?!” I said “no way is there a pile of poop that big on the beach. I bet it’s a rock.” So I walked over to confirm and it was a rock, practically even with the sand on the beach. I told T2 to be careful not to hurt himself on the rock and then went back to my chair and put my hat on.
A few minutes later, T2 came over WITH that rock telling me about all the features of said rock. They had ended the school year with a unit on layers of rock, and he was jazzed to tell me abaout how this was FOR SURE a volcanic rock that had come from a volcano and he NEEDED to bring it home. I proceeded to explain to him that we can’t take home plants or rocks from other countries because of ecosystems and habitats. I set the rock to the side, and kind of assumed that would be the end of it. Spoiler alert, gentle reader: that was NOT the end of it.
Fast forward to the end of the day when we’re packing up to go to the pool. T2 is looking for his rock. I reminded him we can’t take it home with us. Again, ecosystems. Habitats. Nature. Yadda yadda. Husband, unhelpfully, suggested we “just take it up to our room”. This year, we had booked a Jet2 holiday which included checked baggage. I could see where this was going. I said the rock was too heavy. It was full of sand. Why not just leave it at the beach now? I was overruled. We took the rock to the pool, and to our room. I was still hopeful that we would accidentally leave it on our final day, but T2 did not forget we had the rock and Husband was not swayed by ecological argument. Husband packed the rock in one of our checked suitcases. I was super sure they were going to find said rock and give us a hard time about it at the airport. They checked us in and checked our bags with zero incident. We arrived back to England with a gigantic rock, undetected by all customs agents.
I washed said rock in our children’s bathroom until no more sand came out of it. And now it sits on the window sill in said bathroom.