
I keep this little globe on my desk. It is a pencil sharpener.
I gave it to my grandfather (a.k.a. Poppy) for Christmas one year. I got it at Santa’s Secret Shop–did you have those at your school? Anyway, it was this thing where the school would set up a little store, and kids could buy Christmas presents. A lot of the things you could buy were “World’s Greatest (insert family member here)” themed. As a child, I was slightly…how to put this? Well, let’s just say I always had a bad case of the gimmes (I guess I still do). I would always try to save some of my money to buy something for myself. The thing I wanted the most was a music box. It was lavender, shaped like a tiny baby grand piano, and it had a long-haired cat painted on the top. Oh, I wanted that music box so much! But it was eight dollars, and I think my sister and I usually got $20 each to spend on everyone: Mom, Dad, grandparents, cousins Zachary and Megan, and each other. So no music box for me. Maybe someday I’ll find it on eBay or at a garage sale (see?! I told you I still had the gimmes! I’m still looking for it).
But I bought the globe for my Poppy because he was a bookkeeper, and I figured that he would have some pencils he needed to sharpen, and because it looks kind of professional, you know? I have an oddly good memory, and I believe I bought this for him when I was in either the fourth or fifth grade.
Whenever I see it, it makes me smile–he was really my favorite person, and even though he passed away when I was 10, I still think of him a lot. I remember all the funny things he used to say, and I wonder what it would be like to talk to him now that I am (somewhat) grown up.
I came across the globe a long time after he died, when my grandmother was moving out of her house. It made me happy that he kept it, even though, frankly, items from Santa’s Secret Shop weren’t meant to last forever.
But this afternoon I was cleaning up my workspace, and I moved the little globe for a second, and I noticed something I hadn’t before. Can you see it? It’s right there by the little rivet that attaches the blade. Look closely.

It’s the tiniest bit of pencil shaving! At the risk of being overly sentimental, I will admit that I thought it was neat to still find some evidence of him so many years later. And I was very glad to see that my gift was functional as well as ornamental. :)
xoxo,
Sarah