Hi everyone.
There have been some touching threads here lately and I thought a few of you might like to read a story of my own.
My name is Todd. I am almost 50, and a passionate bassplayer. My other passion is trees: I have been a forester for thirty years.
In the late 1960s my family and I lived in a small town in the far south west of Western Australia. The town was a hub of forestry at the time and had its own forestry precinct where all the government-employed Foresters and their families lived.
Mine was one such family, and my parents were friends with one other such family: the Peets . My mother often visited Mrs Peet, and I recall on one occasion accompanying my mother on such a visit. While I was at her house, Mrs Peet gave me a book to read... A Time-Life book called
'the epic of man'. I was fascinated, as it contained detailed artistic impressions of all ancient civilizations like the Greeks, Minoans, Sumerians etc. Seeing that I was enjoying the book, Mrs Peet loaned it to me so I could read it (I was 6 or 7). The book was returned, the Peets moved away (in 1971) and our families lost touch, but the book left an indelible imprint in my mind and I would often think about it (I'm an avid reader of this type of material).
Fast forward to 2008. I've a failed marriage under my belt and three adult children, and I'm living in a town 1.5 hours north of the town in which I grew up.
A friend invited me to the local blues club to watch a band. While I was there I struck up a conversation with a very attractive woman, also there watching the band. I mentioned that I was a forester and was from such and such a town, to which she replied that her family had once lived in my home town and that her father was a retired forester! I asked the question
"is your father so and so ?" :
"Yes" she replied.
So it turns out that this very attractive young lady was indeed Mrs Peet's daughter, born in 1973, after the family had moved away from my town. I proceeded to tell her that I knew her sisters from a long long time ago.
Now here's where things get interesting: It also turns out that she lives just up the road from me and is a classically trained cellist!
Anyway I asked her out for coffee. We started dating as a result and then, a few weeks later, went to visit her parents whom I had not seen since 1971. The reunion was great! They had not seen me since I was a small child: I was now 44...
During the conversation, I mentioned amongst other things, the memory about the book. They said that they still had it, and better still, that I was welcome to borrow it again! I could'nt believe it. I took it enthusiastically and as I turned the pages, was able to recall every single detail like it was ...yesterday. It was as though my brain had taken photographs and then stored them in a vault, where they were kept in perfect condition for 38 years; and then, as I turned the pages again, the vault unlocked and the images reappeared !
It's a great story I never get tired of telling people.
However, that's still not the best part of the whole story. The icing on the cake, is that after a 4 1/2 year courtship this young lady and I were married two months ago.
Next year we are planning a trip that will include my own 'Forester's' pilgrimage: A trip to see the redwoods and giant sequoias in California
.
