The Joy of Collecting

“Why do people collect things?”

This question was asked at a literary meeting I attended recently. It came up because the people at my table were discussing their collections of books.

“I have a collection of “self-help” books from the 70’s when “self-realization” and “self-fulfillment” were cultural aspirations,” I interjected.

“Oh yes, the aspirations of the Baby Boomers, I remember the time well,” said a senior citizen.

“Lets get back to the question of Why Collect?” someone said loudly.

“Well, I think the motivation sometimes is investment but mostly just for enjoyment. It’s a fun hobby. You can expand your social life by attending swap meetings or you can exchange information with like-minded souls.”

“All this talk of collecting habits reminds me of a story about an elderly lady that collected egg cups. She had 1100 of them in all shapes, sizes and colors.”

“Boy, that’s a lot of egg cups!” someone laughed.

“Well, this lady was a widow and she wanted a companion. She went to a dating agency to find some suitable ones.”

Everyone at the table chuckled.

“She eventually was introduced to a single gentleman who also collected. He had 1500 gnome statuettes!”

They got married and bought a house together. They put their collections in the attic, which was huge. It was the most bizarre thing you ever saw. 1500 gnomes, 1100 with an egg cup beside it.

“Isn’t this a beautiful sight?” said the gentleman to the lady while they were viewing the spectacle.

The lady smiled broadly.

“You’ll have to collect  more egg cups, darling, because 400 gnomes don’t have an egg cup beside them,” said the gentleman.

The old lady spent her remaining years collecting 400 more egg cups to put up in the attic!

This truly was a UNION MADE IN HEAVEN!

5 thoughts on “The Joy of Collecting

  1. A confession: I’m a collector. Why do I collect? Hard to say. I think part of the fun is searching for things, like at flea markets, antique stores, things like that. Storage is the problem, of course!

  2. Brandy, my better half, has a collection of tea pots, which are strictly for display. Your blog stirred my memory. I began to look around our house, enough books to fill George Bush’s new library. Shoes, enough of them to open a retail store. Our living room looks like a museum with Chinese and Japanese objets d’art. Additionally, paintings enough to fill two houses. Sorry, not an egg cup or gnome in sight.

  3. Think like I collect authors…lol
    Each one of my books is like one of my children. My partner recently asked if I could remove some of the books from our home. My answer: If he don’t like it find somewhere else to live. At my office, books are piled high. My business partner complained, so I gave her the office next to mine.
    Other than that I’m a dream to be around 🙂

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