My name is Michael Hurla. I am a young boy, with a keen interest in rocks. My fascination begins with one rock in particular, a pet rock I call Shelby. Shelby is special to me because he is a sedimentary rock, used to power the steam engine train my great grandfather used to run. Sedimentary rocks are formed on or near the Earth’s surface. The most important geological processes that lead to the creation of sedimentary rocks are erosion, weathering, dissolution, precipitation, and lithification.

Shelby and I are inseparable. I take it everywhere, and it brings me comfort. I tell everyone that Shelby is more than just a rock, it's my companion. Shelby is a bituminous coal, which is a type of coal that is formed from peat over time as geological processes apply pressure to it. It is transformed successively into different types of coal, starting from lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, to bituminous coal.

As I grow older, Shelby slowly changes, starting to show signs of weathering. Its smooth surface becomes rougher, marking the beginning of its journey through the rock cycle. But this is no surprise to me. I know that Shelby is millions of years old. Millions of years ago, dead plant matter fell into swampy water and over time, a thick layer of dead plant matter formed. Over time, water and dirt was washed in, and with changing climates, a peat was formed.

When I have my own child, David, I pass Shelby down to him. I explain the importance of Shelby and how it changed through a process called the rock cycle. I let David know all I knew about Shelby's past. Once the peat was formed, it was weighted down by water and dirt. Under heat and pressure, it underwent chemical changes, pushing out oxygen and leaving rich hydrocarbon deposits. What once had been plants, gradually turned into coal. Coal can be found deep underground, and near the surface.

David, like me, grows attached to Shelby. He learns about its changes with fascination and treats it with utmost care, continuing the legacy I started. David is fascinated with the stages the rock has gone through. In stage 1, it is peat, in stage 2, it is lignite, and in stage 3, it is bituminous. David learns all he can about the three stages.

David dives deep, learning all he can about each stage. Peat contains high amounts of moisture but has a low carbon content. In this stage, it looks like charcoal. Once in the lignite stage, it looks brown and is soft and crumbly. It is formed from peat, after the evaporation of aqueous parts and other gases. Lastly, it transforms into bituminous, which is the most widely used coal type in the world. Hard bituminous coal is dark, powdery in texture, and with characteristic stratification.

David passes Shelby down to his daughter, Bella, ensuring that Shelby's journey continues through the generations of our family. Our family evolves over time, just as Shelby has. Bella learns that Shelby is a sedimentary rock, from the detrital rock class, which comes from the erosion and accumulation of rock fragments, sediment, or other materials, categorized as debris.

Bella is captivated by the story of Shelby. She takes it to school for show and tell, explaining the rock cycle and Shelby's journey through it. She teaches her classmates that organic detrital rocks form when parts of plants and animals decay in the ground, leaving behind biological material that is compressed and becomes rock. Coal is a sedimentary rock formed over millions of years from compressed plants.

Bella passes Shelby down to her son, Ethan, when he's old enough to understand the significance of this family heirloom. Bella teaches Ethan all about the changes Shelby underwent over millions of years. Ethan learns all he can about geology. Shelby's journey represents the resiliency of our family. Ethan keeps Shelby safe, knowing it has spanned the generations, just like our family.

And so, the story of Shelby, the pet rock, ends. It has journeyed through the rock cycle, just as we have journeyed through life, always changing, always growing. Shelby embarked on a remarkable journey, carried forward by generations of Hurla's.