I like to collect
things and I think it is because growing up, my mother loved her
“whatnots,” as she called them. She had shelves full of figurines
and items I was never allowed to touch as a kid. I think I spent half
my childhood with my hands behind my back and still do that when I’m
around something expensive.
However, her love of
collecting things made an impression on me and when I was younger I
started collecting too. Maybe it was because we enjoyed doing it
together, or maybe it’s something I would have done anyway but it
was such fun. I started with bear collectibles simply because I loved
bears. Usually they were inexpensive and cute – nothing that would
cost of lot if it was broken.
Right after high
school, I started collecting carousel horses; my first one was bought
at a drugstore and seemed expensive to me at the time. I think I
remember it was close to $40 or so, but with inflation that same item
will set you back around $90. It was my first bigger purchase for
something just to sit on a shelf to admire and it made me proud to
have bought it with my own money.
When I was in high
school, my best friend Janet and I went to World Bazaar in the mall
and spent hours filling up an entire shadow box with tiny glass
animals as a gift for my mom, all painstakingly chosen. Tiny
elephants, little dogs, cute bears – a myriad of glass creatures
with every piece having significance behind why we chose it. My mom
cherished that and had it on the wall up until her death – 27 years
later.
She also collected
angels and kept them in a heavy, lighted curio cabinet with glass
doors that kept them dust-free and away from her grandchildren’s
sticky fingers and clumsy hands. Glass angels, porcelain ones with
feathery adorned wings, and even whimsical ones with honey hair that
looked childlike and full of saccharine. Every holiday I would try
to get her something for that collection and after her death it moved
to my dining room, so now I’m the gatherer of angels.
My mother also had a
salt and pepper collection that would rival any country store or
antique shop. Once she got started, everyone would buy her a set when
they went on vacation or simply saw something they knew she’d like.
The last set I got her was of Ricky and Lucy because she absolutely
loved the I LOVE LUCY show – those too are in my home now.
Over the years I’ve
collected many things – cigar boxes that sometimes still smell like
tobacco, snow globes that create a blizzard in a tiny world once you
shake them, decorative bottles filled with peppers I’ll never eat,
honey colored oils, or amber colored vinegar, and wine that is never
opened but instead displayed for their unique labels of dapper dogs
or my favorite rock star’s brand. My interests have changed
throughout the years but whatever I have collected in the past is
still just as special to me.
Part of the wonder
of cherished items is that something you loved is passed down to
someone else, like my mother’s angels. I don’t have children so
when I die, I imagine these things won’t be important to anyone
else or then again, maybe someone will be able to enjoy it as much as
I have and they will find a new home where someone else cherishes
their presence.
