Olympia mother and son make ‘small magic’ in a time of uncertainty
It’s hard not to smile when you spy one of the rocks Mandy Lea paints: They vary from pebble- to palm-sized and are graced with brightly colored faces, animals, hearts, avocados — her son Gabe Ceyhun’s favorites are the pickles.
Lea and Gabe have been carefully nestling the painted treasures all over their west Olympia neighborhood near Capital High School, and in two adjoining neighborhoods, for weeks now.
It started about a month ago, when Lea was working in her yard and found glass hearts she had previously sprinkled in the plants. She remembered a park in Lacey where painted rocks are hidden here and there, and it sparked her imagination.
“It seems like a nice way to spread a little joy,” Lea said.
Painting the rocks started out as a project for her and Gabe to do together, for some art time at home, Lea said. Gabe is 8 years old and would normally be at school, but schools across the state are shut down for the rest of the year in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Gabe’s more of a math fan, and he lost interest fairly quickly, Lea said. Now, he leaves the painting to his mom, but he likes their daily walks, when they find nooks around the neighborhood in which to tuck Lea’s creations. You can find them peeking out from yard decor, balanced in retaining walls, hidden in a tree’s branches — one’s even being guarded by a Spider-Man toy.
By now, Lea said she and Gabe have painted and placed at least 130 rocks.
Gabe told The Olympian he hopes they make the people who find them happy, and he estimates they’ve made over half the neighborhood feel that way so far.
“If nobody takes them, then they’re going to be everywhere,” Gabe said.
And it’s no longer solely Lea’s artwork: The rocks set off a chain reaction. Within days, neighbors started painting their own rocks, Lea and Gabe started discovering theirs moved to new places, and little thank-you notes began appearing.
“They are a much-needed happy gesture during a difficult time,” a handwritten note near one rock reads.
Walks around the neighborhood have become part of their new daily routine, with Gabe home and Lea teleworking for her job with the state Department of Licensing. The ritual also helps them meet neighbors who are spending time outside, Lea said, and it’s taken on the air of a scavenger hunt: Which rocks have moved? Which have disappeared? Any new ones?
Time feels as if it has slowed down, expanding in a way that allows them to really pay attention to their surroundings, Lea said. She doesn’t know who else is painting rocks or who’s leaving the notes, but it’s become a form of communication among neighbors.
“Everything feels so scary and sad and uncertain,” Lea told The Olympian. “... It feels good to make a small, little magic.”
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