The Odd Collector

Some years ago, maybe 20 or so, I decided to collect lighthouses. But only Harbour Lights® lighthouses. I loved them. There is a certain lonesome romance about a lighthouse. The solitude associated with them is attractive. Anyway, I collected them until they went insane and made several different limited editions and decided that the name was more important than detail. Seriously, there is no way the Canaveral lighthouse is three times taller than the Space Shuttle.

There are some things I still collect. I have a fondness for geology and tend to be an amateur rockhound, so I have a nice collection of museum quality specimens. And of course, I collect Lolita™ glasses. Finally, a collection of useful things!! And they are like Pokemon™: gotta catch ’em all. According to Hubby, I am rising to that challenge.

Those are ordinary collections, though. But the thing is, I am an odd collector, too. I think of an odd collector as someone who only collects one of a certain thing, usually some item destined to be an heirloom or something that has some tie to a cultural reference. For example, while we were stationed in Hawaii, I fell in love with Koa wood. It is very rare and expensive, so there was no way I was going to own a dining table and chair made from it. But I managed to find a vanity hairbrush and comb set with a beautiful burl on the backs. One thing, see? I remember my grandmother had little glass figurine in its satin-covered box. We were never allowed to touch it, even breathe on it. It was Baccarat™. I don’t know what happened to it, but I do remember how the light refracted and made such beautiful rainbows when she showed it to me. A while back blogger friend Mitchell posted a gift for his mother, and years later I feel the need to have this one thing.

A bold, beautiful butterfly. I have a jones for cute insects. And Hubby never has any idea what to get me. He has decided the Lolita thing is off the table, since he has no idea what I own, so this would be a nice one thing to gift me. It may be too late for Christmas, but there is always Valentine’s Day, and I would much prefer this to flowers that die or candy that makes me fat.

So, do y’all have those “one things” too? Or am I an outlier? Again?? 😀