Just an interesting story (at least to me).

A friend of mine retired from the Air Force 8 years ago. I hadn't seem him since then, except on Facebook. Anyway, his wife died suddenly (cancer, I believe) shortly after he retired. They had no kids--it was just the two of them. He was broken. He didn't know what to do. So he studied Russian for a year in a local college. Now, this guy is as country as country can be, so it seemed strange to me, but whatever gets you through. So, since he spoke a little Russian, he took a trip to Ukraine. He loved it. Now he goes over there about every six months and stays for a month or so.

Anyway, he was a jet mechanic in the Air Force, and he started going around flea markets in Ukraine and buying old USSR wrenches just because he liked them and he could. On one trip he bought so many wrenches he had to leave most of his clothes when he came back because his bags were too heavy.

He called me today and said "I'm in your parking lot and I have some wrenches for you." We had talked a lot, but hadn't gotten together since his retirement ceremony. We talk for a while and he gives me a few wrenches, and then he says, "I got something else for you." He hands me a baggie with three Ukrainian Buckeyes in it. He said they are everywhere in Kiev and he always sees me post about the Buckeyes on Facebook, so he brought me some. How cool is that! Not many folks have Ukrainian Buckeyes. Of course, few folks here in San Antonio would appreciate that, so I thought I'd tell y'all. It's a little dark because "he oiled it up so it wouldn't dry out" (as any good mechanic would).

Does anybody else out there have any good stories about getting any Buckeye trinkets from someplace interesting?