I've been teasing my wife for years about getting a buckeye tree to plant in the yard, and for years we've had a playful disagreement about it. She thinks they are nasty, spiky things and trash up the yard around them. I think they are wonderful round leafed beauties that happen to drop a nut that, admittedly, comes in a wrapper that you must be cautious about. A few years ago I visited in Ohio and forgot to grab one to bring home, much to Deniese's delight. The following year, my sister in law who lives in Ohio was going to dig me one up to bring home but somehow (after talking to Deniese, I suspect) she "forgot" and again I came home empty handed. However. this year my cousin came for a visit and asked if there was anything from the old home state I might like him to bring me. So of course I asked him to bring me one.

He said he forgot, and my wife breathed another sigh of relief, but once he got here she found him to be as ornery as I am. He had ordered a pair of them from a nursery in Ohio and convinced them to ship them out here! My wife enjoys a good joke, though, even at her own expense, so for now I've "won" and have two little 8 inch trees in pots (of course she wants to plant them waaaaay off in the woods out of sight and I want them visible off the yard, but that's another battle!).

You might wonder why I would want a buckeye tree, and it's because I am a wandering mis-placed Ohioan. I have a fondness for the stomping grounds of my youth, and I can remember collecting up buckeyes which I associate with good memories. [haven't lived there for 20 years, but still it was half my life. Around here you would call them horse chestnuts., but they are not quite the same thing.

I think all of us keep little mementos from our past. Many ladies may have a pressed flower from their weddings, and many a man may have a key or other item from their first car. Kieran has a little bottle of refined oil in his office which he could tell you a story about. My wife has postcards and matchbooks from places along the coast of Oregon. Granted none of these are as large as a towering buckeye tree, but hey can I help it if I think big?

I learned long ago, after my 11th or 12th move, that carrying along a lot of "sacred" objects can get to be pretty tiring, and so over the years I have let go of many items that once meant something to me. Now we have pruned down, my wife and I, to really just a few boxes of things that are particularly special to us. Some of Dave's old toys. My ancient Atari computer from my BBS days. Shells and such from the seacoast. You know what I mean. These things are special to us, and invoke strong memories that we'd like to keep forever. I'm confident all of you, young and old, large and small, have the same attachment to your own set of things.

Let me say this plainly. They're all junk. Yes, they really are. Those old toys might be interesting to an antique dealer 100 years from now, but they'll never have the same sentiment to him that the do for me. So what about things like pictures? Ok, how often do YOU get out pictures of your grandparents or great-grandparents and look at them? If you have pictures in your home, you probably have hanging around images of your kids, your in-laws, your siblings, their kids. Got more than one picture of grandpa? Great-grandpa? Probably not. The living care about the living, and not very much for those who are gone. Thus your stuff, while it is extremely important to you, is really just junk. Your kids and grandkids, if you end up with any, will take an item or two to remember you by and sell/throw the rest away. Their kids will likely throw even that away when their turn comes. Don't be sad, the old should make way for the new; everyone gets a turn and yours is over.

It's "nice" to be sentimental. Many are religiously sentimental. They go to church because their parents did. They are baptist, mormon, yes even Christians because they grew up that way. Some hang onto silver crosses around their necks, or beads, or knots, or some other trinket. Some think a building is sacred because God was worshiped there, and somehow his power leaked out into the woodwork. God isn't some 'thing" that's some token to be collected, simply something from even a precious memory. God is alive and big and powerful. God is ever with us, and has value to our parents and our children, those who come before and after us. We don't own him, he belongs to all generations. However, if we plant him in our lives his faith can grow in us and be carried on to be appreciated by future generations. Planted - living - growing - for generations… sounds a lot like a particular tree I am fond of!

Randy