Collections

[talon]

There's always a reason people begin to focus on and collect some single thing. When I was 18, I had a dream where one day, I would have a lion in my house, a unique lion. I had an impression of what it looked like, but no actual memory of it. It was vague and more of an itch than anything else. I mentioned this to a friend of mine and one day, weeks later, she gave me a mirror with a lion painted on it. She said, "This isn't the lion of your dreams, but maybe, being a mirror, it will reflect that dream back to you and capture the image of the lion that will be yours."

That was my very first lion. For many years, I collected lions, unique ones that weren't mass produced. When I traveled on my journeyman, I collected lions from all the countries I visited. Twenty two years later, on the day I gave birth to my lion (my daughter, a Leo who should have been born a Scorpio), I stopped collecting lions. I had the lion I dreamt of way back when I was 18. That lion mirror still hangs in my living room, reflecting my daughter's image whenever she walks by.

My mother collected German porcelain desert sets: matching cup, saucer, and desert plate. They were all kept in a china cabinet on crocheted doilies, and were never, ever used for anything. I never asked her why she collected them, they were simply a part of the family. I never saw her add any to the collection as I grew up, although I received a few from relatives. Now that she's dead, I have half her collection and my sister has her other half. When we die, my lion daughter (or her children) inherits them all.

She also collected magnets and spoons from all 50 US states and from countries she or friends of hers visited. I know why she collected those - they were travel mementos. My brother has those collections.

My grandmother collected ruby jewelry. She adored rubies, but I don't know why. I have her three ruby ring, her single ruby ring, and a ruby necklace. My aunt has all the rest of her ruby jewelry.

A friend of mine collected elephants because she said she needed the help remembering things. Every time she needed to remember something important, she'd get an elephant for that memory. I don't know what happened to her collection when she died.

I think, if you collect something special (I'm not talking about investment collections, I'm talking about something that holds a special meaning for you and that you collect because it evokes that memory and makes you inordinately happy), you should write it down somewhere so your loved ones who survive you will know why collecting bears or ballerinas or glass fishing floats or whatever made you so happy.

And if you have partial collections you inherited from others, telling how you got that collection and what you know about it would be important to your loved ones someday.

So, what do you collect and why?