What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?

I can’t say that I recall randomly finding something cool (on the ground or otherwise) and then deciding to keep it. If I did, it was probably a tiny trinket of some kind that I eventually stowed away or lost.

That being said, “cool” is subjective. Some of you are probably going to read this next part and just nod your heads, others might find it more relatable and entertaining.

A long time ago, when my biological mom was still alive, my family would occasionally head to northern Washington and visit my mom’s side of the extended family. Some of my aunts and uncles liked to look for agates on hikes. I had only gone on these hikes a couple of times (probably because my aunt didn’t want to haul me around and babysit a seven or eight year old) but there was one time that I found an agate I thought was really cool. It wasn’t quite an inch long by half an inch wide. It was a deep purple color, with a touch of reddish purple on a small rounded point, and a thin vein of something in it. I fell in love with it immediately. My first agate! I was so excited I had finally found one, and I showed my aunt. She was happy for me, at the time, but I think she might have been a little jealous because I don’t recall if she had any luck finding anything that day.

A while later, I forget how long after I found it, but I was playing with that agate and admiring it when I showed it to another family member. They tried to convince me that the little vein in the rock was toxic and that for my own safety I shouldn’t have it. I didn’t believe them, of course, and being a kid I didn’t care either way. They never got their hands on it.

I had that rock with me for a long time. I even remember having it with me when my family moved to South Dakota, so I probably had it for close to 20 years. I lost it during one of my moves after college, and I still think about it from time to time. I never got it polished, keeping its exterior rough and unrefined, but I wish I hadn’t lost it. For all I know it’s still in my old bedroom back home. Maybe I should go root around in there next time I visit my dad. If I ever find it again I’ll share pictures.