"What did I collect as a youth?", Randy Seaver Asked.

  What did I collect as a youth?, is more like what did  I  not collect.  First it was Butterflies. I had 7 boards of butterflies.'

  Then I have always collected rocks, ie gems, minerals and those types of things. I even when an adult learned to cut, 

  polish and mount some of my collection.  Did you know you can once in a long while find a rough diamond at the 

  beach?  My Uncle found on on Stinson Beach in the 1950's.  Therefore I also collected sea shells, until I went to Hawaii

and they lost my initial collection in the move. I sort of gave up collecting until my neighbor in EWA BEACH, showed me

his local collection.  I have about half of that collection today giving much of it away over the years. 

  I suspect that with 4-H I had learned to collect buttons, I had them from the 1860's forward from family members of long ago and still have a smattering of them in a box now. 

  My prize was my postcard collection. Everywhere my Uncle's went in the service they got me a postcard, ditto from cousins and then from friends. I had cards from 1940's early forward until government lost that shipment of items. When in Michigan at an Antique Store I was able to replicate a few, but ones' heart not the same, as from kin. Just think of the time line I would have had for my genealogical quest had they not been given away to who knows whom.

 Yes, as Randy did, as a teen I had a record collection, and a great group of Classic Comics that were more expensive than a comic. They told of the history of someone in cartoon manner. Those all went with the fire in 65 at Mom's.

  So now I just collect living people, as family and as friends. Of course God calls them home and the faces come and go but at least  I understand the transition.