I recently had the occasion to think about some of our childhood collections. I recall bringing home a bucket full of Western Ring-necked snakes, a box full of frogs and toads, and bike baskets filled with box turtles. Mom made us return the snakes to the kind lady who let us gather them from her root cellar. The turtles, frogs, and toads all got turned loose in our big back yard from which they would occasionally emerge to be found again (sometimes, unfortunately, by the lawnmower--ewww).
We collected rocks, arrowheads (before it was illegal), stamps, and coins. We had friends who collected toy frogs, teddy bears, anything strawberry, geese, cows, and owls. We collected knives and swords, UFO memorabilia, seashells, and in our mother's case fabric for quilts. Grandma collected EVERYTHING else. Buttons, pins, shoes, clothes, old magazines, toys. It seemed like nothing was beyond the realm of possibility when looking around her house.
Today, I don't see that same fervor to collect. Is it the nature of our society now? We do tend towards the disposable, and the immediate. Maybe things don't last long enough to be collected, or perhaps we are more concerned with the instant, not the enduring. I think I would like to see us return to that time of saving things for the future. Something to show for our time here.
I wonder where I can find a few turtles?.....
Take care. Stick.
2 comments:
I've got a big bag of buttons from Grandma's button collection. :0)
I collect business cards. They are easy to store, and they're FREE!
Of course, I also collect books, loose screws (the literal kind) and other such stuff I might possibly some day need, and a fair amount of dust!
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