So, early this morning I am sitting on our new porch...our retirement porch, having coffee. I am listening to the birds and looking at an old piece of driftwood intermingled with my three little potted plants.

On a beach, in a far away land and in a far away time, I was walking with my papa. He bent down, picked up a piece of driftwood and said, "Here SouSou. Keep this."

What? What for? Just an old piece of ugly driftwood to haul back to the beach camp...what for? This ugly gnarled piece of wood...so what that the ocean gleaned it smooth and carved its name on it! That means nothing to me. I hauled it back to beach camp and threw it in the back of the station wagon. hmmph.

So, I sit here at 61 years of age and look back at that 7 year old little girl. How our perspective of just a gnarled piece of wood can change in a life time...