Collections like these have importance in our lives. They remind us of good things, or inspire us of good things to come. Like a woman collecting baby shoes for a child she wants to have one day: it’s things like this that help us sentimental folks put our broken pieces back together.
I understand that some collections are just for fun. They could just look nice on a shelf, or it keeps you busy during your off days, but there is a deeper meaning behind these collections that I find both wholesome and satisfying.
This thought speaks to the days of stamp collecting and coin collecting, of which my late grandfather took part in, to participate in history. He was a purveyor of quarters, one’s with designs on the back he had never seen, and he once gave me a gold, one-dollar coin with Sacagawea on the back, a coin that he was incredibly proud to have seen with his own eyes.
There is a magic in these collections that takes us to places that we miss, or to places we wish we could remember, and even better, takes us back to people we miss. This contributes to our motivations as humans to keep moving forward, even when we cast a spare glance behind us.