Pencil Box Memories

One of my last days home over the summer, my Grandpa wanted to go
through the things in his workshop. So, they packed him up and took
him home for the afternoon. When he found this box of pencils and things
 he thought maybe I could use it at school.

A common activity in history classrooms is to give students a bunch of
"stuff" and have them try to figure out what it all means...who did it
belong to, what time period is it from, what was it used for...

So if you knew my Grandpa you wouldn't be surprised that there were
several carpenter's pencils.

A fitting reminder of the "old life" that he exchanged for the eternal.

If the layer of sawdust covering the contents didn't clue you in to the
fact that he like to build, this might.

He loved going to auctions. My mom said that he could tell her almost
everything he bought at every auction he had ever been to...and
that would be quite a few. He was great at finding hidden treasures.

For builders who like to color? =) 

My senior year of high school  my Grandma was in a very serious
car accident and spent a long time in Edwin Shaw.

I think there is a specific genetic marker in the DNA of people
from West Virginia because it is definitely in their blood.

I'm trying not to worry that the FBI is going to come after me....
but I'd love to know how he got these.

Are we sensing a pattern, yet?

Uh oh, there's another one.

He had lost so much weight that none of his pants fit him anymore.
One day, I was teasing him that at the school we would put zip ties
on the pants of boys who wore them too loose.
One of the first things they did when he got to his workshop that day
was to put a zip tie on his pants to hold them up.

This one was bittersweet.

I wonder what the statute of limitations is on stolen pencils....