Maybe because it’s coming up on the second anniversary of my brother’s death and the 56th anniversary of my dad’s death, that made this find in a vintage shop so poignant. I looked at it, picked it up, set it back down and walked away. But then, I knew I couldn’t leave the shop without it. My original thought was that it would make a great gift for my oldest son for Christmas because he is the most sentimental of my children. But then, after thinking about it for a while, I thought maybe my other children would feel left out because they loved their uncle too.

Luckily, although I’d never seen this planter anywhere else, there are quite a few for sale on sites like Etsy and Ebay, so I know where I will be doing some of my Christmas shopping.

This little green car has a story to tell
Of a tan one so like it that was treasured
By a boy who never knew
The man whose honor it measured.
The boy carried the car across the miles,
From home to home and on to the North,
But when leaving Chicago, somehow it was lost.
The Boy was crushed, he was sad and dismayed.
And for years he searched and until miraculously one day,
On a shelf, in a shop, he found it, he thought.
He brought it home and loved it for years,
Until the day he left us in tears.
The tan one he loved now sits on my shelf,
But this one so like it is yours to enjoy,
To remember your grandpa and his little boy.

Charles Edward Shoults 8/25/25 – 8/30/70
Bruce Edgar Shoults 11/7/ 66 – 9/9/24

BTW, I’m not a poet (but I play one on TV–oops, that’s not true either).

I can post this here now because none of my family even knows this little blog exists. I’ve never told anyone, the Great Hunter doesn’t even know. Maybe someday I’ll tell him and let him read all those posts that he stars in.