While perusing some of the cool finds at [url=http://www.found.com]found.com[/url] (particularly [url=http://www.foundmagazine.com/find/808]this entry[/url]) I started to think about some of the things that I own that make me think of people who are no longer part of my life.

The first one that comes to mind is that every time I look at my [url=http://www.amazon.com/Gnomes-30th-Anniversary-Wil-Huygen/dp/0810954982/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-3102481-1083960?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190396541&sr=8-1]Gnomes book[/url] I think of my grandmother. I don’t have the book handy, but there’s an inscription inside the cover that says when she gave the book to me. I think it was for my 10th birthday. I’ve read that book so many times and probably thought of her each and every one. I can still recall the warm spring day that may or may not have actually been the day of my birthday…I think my birthday may have fallen on Easter that year, too. I don’t know now, but there are some little details that really stand out in my mind – all brought about simply by thinking of the Gnome book.

Each time I look at the cover to [url=http://don.oninohana.com/blog/?postid=8]Elfquest[/url] issue #18, I think of Stephen Robert who way my best friend in elementary and middle school. He was with me the day I found that issue at the comic book store which kicked off our renewed interest in EQ. Interestingly (to me, at least!) that visit also took place on a later birthday. Unlike the day above, it was rainy.

I have a lot of books that remind me of the people with whom I’ve spent time and places that I’ve been. These physical things are sort of like catching a whiff of warm corn muffins as you walk past a bakery and being reminded of your aunt’s delicious cornbread. But it’s better because you can look at them over and over, each time recalling something new.