Found

January 6, 2020

Greetings from the finders keepers,

I find things on the ground.  I have a long history of this, held in common with walkers and runners and those who wander.  What makes it possible is moving slowly enough to notice, to see what is around us, and to be willing to stop long enough, for even a second, to look closer at what has been given.

I am not a scavenger.  I don’t need to add things to my collection of possessions, nor am I searching for a particular treasure.  I am a willing partner with serendipity.  I’ll pause here and say that I love the word serendipity; for its meaning, for its place in my life, and just the way it feels in my mouth.

I have come home with coins.  It is probably a carryover from childhood, but I feel so lucky to find change on the ground.  I don’t think about money in the same way as I did, separated from my formative years by half a century of earning a wage.  I am not converting pennies into Bazooka bubble gum. Fact is, most of the coins on my dresser end up in the barista’s tip jar.  Regardless, I have never been so wealthy that I could pass a coin without picking it up.

I’ve found wallets and earphones and cassette tapes and books.  Some things have been lost, others flung from cars, their value spent.  I’ve found parts of things I thought might be useful when I fix things that are missing parts.  A lot of this goes right in the trash, but once in a while I find something I am glad to keep.

Not long ago I found a crescent wrench.  I ran by it, a dark wet morning, and the image finally caught up with my brain, so I stopped and went back.  As a Master Putterer I was tickled as I leaned over and saw what it was.  The crescent wrench is a very useful tool.

It is brown with age and corrosion, but I can make out the writing embossed on it; the Diamond brand, forged in the USA.  I’m told it’s 10” and there is a caveat against hammering or extensions.  This warning makes me smile when I think about how I’ve done both.

I like how it feels, and after I hold it, I can smell it on my hands.  The shape is elegant, the heft is solid and strong.  It is a good fit. 

I wonder about what its journey was, how it came to be where I found it.  Some of you may roll your eyes at this; the world is filled with the flotsam of other people’s lives, why wonder about it?  Ah, the wondering is part of the beauty of finding things.

Otto Swanstrom came to this country from Sweden in 1874 at the age of 15 and became a Smithy. He began creating horseshoes and harnesses in the burgeoning town of Duluth, a bastion of Swedes at the time.  As his blacksmith prowess grew his specialty became making horseshoes that improved the horse’s grip on slippery surfaces, a welcome innovation, given Minnesota’s climate.

As the automobile pushed traditional horsepower aside, Otto turned his forging skills to making tools to repair the new industry.  This led to a bustling factory that produced all manner of spanners.  Somewhere in this history, Otto’s enterprise, Diamond Calk Horseshoe Co., made this 10” adjustable wrench, and launched its journey toward me.

Someone dropped this tool, it’s hard to say when.  I may have gone by it for five hundred days and not seen it, my mind dreaming of other things.  It has become the color of the ground that held it, no chrome to catch the light.  In time it would have become part of the earth, and slowly returned to the ore it was forged from.  Enter another Smith.

I cleaned it up and lubricated the knurl so the wrench behaves as it was intended.  It will loosen stubborn bolts, its versatile jaw adapting to the need.  I may one day hammer it or extend it, despite its warning.  It is in a wooden drawer in my workbench with its cousins. 

I wasn’t looking for a 10” crescent wrench.  I might not have thought I needed one, but now I can’t think of not having it.  

Awareness is a gift we are all given, and we all use it inconsistently, dimmed and brightened by whatever else vies for our attention.  The lesson of the Diamond wrench, and of all the treasures I’ve found is this; slow down enough to see.  Pay attention, even if it seems, at first, to have no purpose.  And when you come across something that captures your spirit, give in to the wonder.

Not every day brings practical things, not every frivolous thing is at it seems, not all things found are tangible enough to rust or be held to a task.  Some of what we find as we go is simply beauty and whatever the beauty means to us.  Serendipity is in the wings with treasures for you, and all you have to do is pay attention.

Hope this finds you finding something,

David

Copyright © 2020 David Smith