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First Nut

Today when I got to work there was a strange round thing sitting on my desk. After some thought I realized it was my friend Danica who left it there. She had left me a "first nut of the season". A buckeye chestnut still in its outer shell. (what do you call that part? Joel says " protective nut casing)

She first did this a couple of years ago... I can't remember if we were still in grad school or if it was after we were working here. She left us all cool smooth chestnuts sitting on our mousepads. They are such a simple thing. But we all admired our little treasures for the rest of the day, watching as the reddish woodgrained surface changed to a dark brown. They were the topic of conversation that day.

So now my "first nut of the season" for this year is sitting in front of me. When I look over at Joel I can see his sitting to the left of his keyboard. There is something strangely familiar and comforting about it.