Elephants and Books

I was up late last night chatting with friends and the subject of collectibles came up. Some said they collected horse figurines, or dragon statues, and so on. It made me think about what I have collected in my life.

My first collection started when I was 2 days old, my father brought in a small plant in a porcelain pot that was shaped like an elephant. The plant eventually died, and my mom used that little pot to hold pins and ointments when I was a baby, as I got older it held barrettes and hair clips. That was just the first elephant I ever got. I ended up with many more over the years. Somehow, it was never up to me, people just kept on giving me elephants, I guess it was a good thing that I loved them as much as I did. I had a tiny ceramic set of an elephant family, a really cool one made out of seashells given by my grandmother. I had a big stuffed elephant that made a great footstool and a teddy bear type one that I slept with.

Those were just a few, by the time I was 16, I had almost 500 elephant statues, figurines, plates, toys, etc. This isn't counting the 100 or so stuffed or plush elephants I had. I gave up most of them at this time, we were moving and the room I was getting just wasn't big enough to hold all of them. So I packed a few of my favorites and gave the rest of them to Goodwill. *Smiles* I am sure they just loved trying to find places for all those elephants.

My second real collection probably started somewhere around 4 or 5 years old. Once I discovered the joy of reading, book were a collection I was always adding to. I read fast, so it doesn't take me long to go through a book, and I enjoy re-reading them. So if I find a book I like, I want it in my bookshelf so I can read it any time I wish. At the height of this collection I had around a thousand books. My own personal library. Unfortunately, I had to get rid of about two-thirds of them when I moved down to Florida.

I had a small or mid-size car, and everything I owned had to fit in it for the move. That many books just wouldn't fit, as I had clothes, my computer, and my dog and puppycat to stuff into the car as well. It was very difficult to choose which books to get rid of, and I still miss having them on hand. I am slowly rebuilding my collection, however, as we live only 2 blocks from a flea market and I can get books very cheaply there.

Other than these 2 things, elephants and books, I never seriously collected anything else. Oh sure, I started hundreds of collections as a kid, but quickly lost interest in them and they never lasted long.

So, what do you collect, how long have you collected it, and why do you collect them?