A visit to my parents, to Hyd....... and at some point it's a walk down nostalgia lane. Out of one random discussion, came me asking if either of them knew what might have happened to my stamp collection.
At first I was amazed....neither even recalled that I used to collect stamps. And then it was such a wonderful surprise when within a few minutes mom walked out with this old pencil box, maybe from high school days. It was my box of duplicates for trading.
At first I was amazed....neither even recalled that I used to collect stamps. And then it was such a wonderful surprise when within a few minutes mom walked out with this old pencil box, maybe from high school days. It was my box of duplicates for trading.
Opening it, touching those stamps, the feel and smell from over thirty years...almost a solemn experience. At that point, I would have given a lot to have my albums back, I had a fairly decent collection spread across maybe four years, and as many albums. And then it brought with it an onslaught of vivid memories.....the excitement of the postman's coming, less for the letter and more for the the envelope.........of pen friends in Ireland and Hungary from who I got the most exotic of stamps......the prizes won in school level competitions.......the philately exhibitions at GPO...wonderful stuff.
Brought back such a deep level of joy, and I guess maybe even some pride, especially now that I knew I'd done all of that without my parents even knowing about it.
And more...... honest appreciation and gratitude to my parents for having let me do my own thing.
That I think is my biggest and deepest take away. Let kids be.....they get a lot of things right on their own........given freedom and space.
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