A Sixth-Grade Report, My Dad, and the Possibility of Change

In the month of October, my father is always on my mind. He would have turned 85 this year! He was a dynamic person with a personality and humor that was unmatched. He was very proud of me.  For some reason, this month, I have been thinking about one of the times my dad was most proud of me.

It wasn’t anything unique—I was in sixth grade, and our assigned project was a report on any subject of our choosing! It could be gymnastics or horses or your favorite movie star. There were specific expectations with resources and length of the report, but otherwise, we had a blank slate and full autonomy in choosing.

I was in a phase where I was obsessed with collecting rocks.

That’s right—I was that girl—and I still am!

At the time, I would take my birthday money and beg Mom to take me to Adamas out in Boardman, and I would then proceed to pick out the most beautiful amethyst and quartz I could!

This report was very important to me! 

I decided to narrow my scope and focus on a certain kind of rock. I remember being very serious about the business of researching which rock type I would cover. As I looked up different forms at the library—igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic—the decision became easy when I read this description: 

Metamorphic rock is a rock that was once one form of rock but has changed to another under the influence of heat or pressure. 

There was the answer! A rock that is changed! 

Metamorphic it is!

It occurred to me while processing this memory that I haven’t changed much.

I still collect rocks. I still get excited about finding a new one. 

But in the process of this, something else occurred to me.

I am also completely fascinated by the metamorphosis of people.

People go through heat and experience pressure. They are shaped by circumstances they didn’t choose, relationships that hurt, losses they never expected, trauma, grief, disappointment, and seasons when simply getting through the day feels like an accomplishment. And yet, that is not the end of their story.

One of the things I love most about the work we do at Thrive 10:10 is watching what happens when people have access to the right resources, relationships, opportunities, and someone who believes in them.

Sometimes the change is obvious. Someone finds a job. Sets a boundary. Finishes a class. Becomes a mentor. Starts believing in themselves again.

And sometimes the change is much quieter.

Their shoulders aren't quite as tense. They speak up. They make a plan. They begin to imagine a future that looks different from their past.

They stop seeing themselves as someone who needs to be fixed and start seeing themselves as someone with something to offer.That is metamorphosis. 

Maybe that is why I still love rocks.

A rock doesn’t choose the heat or pressure that changes it. But given enough time, something remarkable can happen.

I think people are like that.

Hard things change us. But they don't have to define us. 

Maybe this is what my sixth-grade self was beginning to understand when I chose metamorphic rocks for that report.

I just didn’t know yet that I would spend much of my life fascinated by what happens when people are given the opportunity to become something more.

I wish I could tell my Dad that sixth-grade me was onto something. 

I wish I could tell him that all those years ago, when he bragged about his daughter’s very serious rock report, he may have been watching the beginning of something. 

I have a feeling that he already knew. 

He would have told everyone about it! 

So this October, I’m thinking about my Dad, my rocks, and all of the people I have had the privilege of watching change.

And I’m still just as obsessed with the possibilities.

At Thrive 10:10, we believe people are not problems to be solved. They are people whose potential can be unlocked.Our work is about creating the relationships, resources, education, and opportunities that help people move from simply surviving to building a future.

Maybe that sixth-grade report wasn’t really about rocks after all.Maybe it was about transformation.

And maybe, all these years later, I’m still researching the same thing. Meghan