The things we carry with us through life. The things we just can't bear to throw away or give away.
I've got a few.
We just moved, which forced me to confront all the things I've carried.
Like my NFL Action '72 stamp album. My dad used to bring the stamps home from the Sunoco gas station. I guess you'd get a package of nine with every fill-up.
I managed to fill the entire album, except for one stamp. Terry Hanratty, the backup quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. That was a thankless job, playing behind Terry Bradshaw. Maybe they didn't even print a stamp for him.
The Steelers were my team (we were living in New Alexandria, Pennsylvania, at the time, not that far from Pittsburgh). Funny that the Steelers were the one team whose roster I somehow couldn't complete.
I see today that there's someone on eBay selling an NFL Action '72 album for $100. Funnily enough, it's also missing one stamp.
I've also lovingly carried with me all these years a mint sheet of the 50 state flag stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 1976 to mark the bicentennial. I used to be a stamp collector when I was a kid. Sadly, after all this time, a similar sheet is selling for only $10 on eBay. Ten dollars after 36 years!
I guess I'll just hang onto them for a little while longer.
That's one of the things I miss about America is going to the post office and looking at all of the different stamps themes while waiting in line. The committee of stamp "deciders" that decides on America's varied and exciting designs is a part of the America government that consistently, year in and year out, delight me!
ReplyDeleteThey do a pretty good job. And the rules of who or what gets on a stamp have loosened quite a bit over the years.
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