Finds & Treasures: Hand-carved Plaque

At the terrorizing toddler time of my life, my family and I living in Valley Forge, PA.  They had a friend who did wood carving, so sometime after my sister was born he gave us plaques with our names on them hard carved in great detail.  They are in the shape of the Park Service emblem of a Native American arrowhead each having my and my sister's names scorched in with a wood cabin scene.

I've always had it up to remind me of my past and the awesome fact that both my parents were Park Rangers (and before retirement Forest Service rangers as well).  We'd go camping every summer with a giant authentic tipi instead of tents.  When our classes would take field trips to the parks they worked at, my classmates thought it was SO COOL that my parents worked there.  My parents' profession shaped me into the nature-loving gal I am today.

Sometimes I wonder how life would have been different if my parents were lawyers or doctors or office assistants or retail workers or basically anything else.  I'm so grateful and lucky to have them in my life and the way they raised me into the best me I can be.  This plaque represents that.  Even though I have not ended up diving into the family business, my passion for nature is still as solid as this plaque.