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I started collecting quarters two years ago. It’s fun, it keeps me busy. Apparently, there are a bunch of new, cool quarters. My goal is to have a quarter for each state.
My wonderful wife, Nickcora just doesn’t get it. She can have a whole room full of shoes of which she wears maybe a third. The other two-thirds are for show, decoration. Or simply, the collection. But she’ll never admit to it. Yet, my wife wants me to get rid of all the shoes I don’t wear. My answer: I can only wear one pair at a time, anyway.
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My wife is good at planning our trips and is somewhat better at managing our money. She can do these two tasks while also talking on the telephone and cooking dinner. She’s a multi-tasker. Me, on the other hand, I have one task. If you have something else for me to do, it has to wait. I’m focused, here. My goal is to complete this one task at hand.
And that’s just how I am when I’m collecting my quarters. I can be at the laundromat, doing laundry. No problem, as long as I already have the quarters. You see, what happens with me at the laundromat is this: I’m washing the clothes. I go get more quarters. I start setting aside new quarters for my collection. In mid-stream, I stop doing what I’m doing to sort these quarters. Can’t mix up new states with quarters that can go in the machine. What if I find that quarter I need to complete my thirteen original states bunch?
Whale or bear? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I’m just collecting coins. Ask my wife and she says it’s OCD. We both laugh it off and I finish my quarter sorting.
Which do you consider the good thing? The whale or the bear? Each animal is its own sort of threat to mankind. So how is one determined better than the other? It’s like the old teaching. Good guys wear white and bad guys wear black. Wait. Let me stay focused, here.
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My view on collecting things has changed over the years. I still collect quarters but, to the credit of Nickcora, I also collect experiences. She loves to travel and go places and do new things, so, I get new experiences to write about. She keeps my creative juices flowing. Instead of only collecting quarters at home, I also collect experiences from all over the world. Thanks, babe.
Instead of chasing that white whale of a quarter. I choose to tame that wild black bear inside of me and collect experiences with the love of my life, throughout life. And that’s a good thing.
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Photo Credit: Getty Images