Going postal

I don't think there's too many of us out there anymore--especially with this whole Internet thing ruining everyone's postal fun--but, I'll admit it to you. And I'll say it loud and proud: I COLLECT STAMPS AND I THINK IT'S TOTALLY COOL.

I started my stamp habit after my great-grandmother passed away when I was in grade school. While cleaning out Grandma's house, someone found a collection she had in a shoebox. It was full of stamps mostly from the 1940s and 50s, but I was psyched to also find stamps she had from 1898. (How do I know this? Because she wrote the year across the front of these stamps. In pen. Which, if you know anything about collecting, completely devalues them. But still. 1898. Awesome.)

So I continued adding to Grandmother's collection. And over the years, as word of my geekiness spread, grandmothers, aunts, neighbors, and friends traveling abroad have been picking up pieces of postage for me. I even had a whole office of folks I used to work with in London sending me stamps after I left because they remembered how I'd tear off the corners of the envelopes from the mail each morning. (FYI, pieces from the UK are particularly lovely.)

I've traveled all over the world by collecting stamps. You name a country, I've got a stamp from that neck of the woods. Heck, you name a country who has changed its name in the last 100 years, and I've got it (Czechoslovakia, I'm talking to you). This collection has helped me learn, has helped me explore, and has even helped me pick out a travel destination or two.

Most of all, though, I've learned this: stamps really are just small pieces of everyday art--an easy way to send some delight to someone, even if they're just the person who opens your utility bill. I love the idea of this, and I love love love my growing collection of little art. And I kind of hope I'll have a grandkid who'll continue it on one day with his or her crazy Internet-based space stamps or whatever she or he will have.

Because seriously, that nerdy kid is inheriting stamps from 1898. (Completely worthless because of great-great-great grandma's ink pen. But still. Awesome.)