WoW - Possessing Beauty

The Write on Wednesday Spark:  Possessing Beauty
Write about a collection. Write about something you or ,someone you know, collects. Think about the "why" behind the collection - why is it important to collect this particular thing? How does it make the person feel to add another piece to their collection? Is the group of objects there to be seen, to be studied or simply kept together? Write a real life story or a piece of fiction. Wherever the prompt takes you...Keep your post on the short side: up to 500 words OR a 5 minute stream of consciousness exercise. Link your finished piece to the list and begin popping by the other links. Oh, and enjoy!

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People collect all sorts of things.  There are shows on television devoted to the strange and odd, sometimes even creepy things that people collect.  Then there are shows about valuable and antique items that are collected.  After watching some of these shows, my children have become collectors.  They choose to collect whatever item strikes their fancy.  Some days it is glass bottles found in our woods.  Other times it is cardboard boxes.  They've collected rocks, key chains, practically any and all things they have encountered have become parts of a budding collection, often a collection of only one.

My children ask me if I have ever collected anything.  As a child I remember someone asking me what I collected and deciding, at that moment, that I collected panda bears.  That was a collection that lasted for a long time.  But as college and marriage days came, panda collecting days faded.  So, the question posed to me, do you collect anything now?

After pondering a moment, I must say yes.  I collect children.  The comment originally received it's expected chuckles as it is funny, to me at least.  I certainly do seem to collect them.  In fact, on the day that this particular conversation was going on with fellow WoWer Mi2, I had in my collection 11 children.  Sure, they aren't all mine, 5 of them eventually left that day.  But it struck me that I do collect children.  My personal collection consists of 6.  Priceless, unique and adorable each one.  And extremely fragile.  Not only are they physically breakable, as my dear friend can attest, but they are emotionally breakable, a thought which makes one look seriously at the responsibility associated with such a collection.

Do these children count as a collection?  Well let's first ponder:  Why do people collect things?  For a sense of gathering beautiful items they love around them?  Well, my children certainly acheive that.  They bring beauty into my life unlike anything I've ever known.

People collect for the "value" of items.  My children's value is beyond compare.  They are worth more than their weight in gold.  They bring more pleasure than any item I've ever owned.  They bring more joy than any "stuff" I could acquire.

Collectors enjoy using their collections to fill their free time.  Again, with my collection, there is no extra free time to fill, my collection can consume it all (if I allow it to).

Some people perhaps collect to create a lasting memorial to their time on earth, a way of insuring their lives meant something, their time was well used to gather priceless or original items in a unique way.  Perhaps to leave a memorial, people will remember them when they see items of their collection.  When I am gone, the 6 children in my collection will continue to pass on the legacy of their childhood.  The things that they learned will be a part of them, their children, my grandchildren and our family line, forever.  I will be remembered when they see my children, grandchildren.

I would say, my collection fits the bill.  My children are my collection.  As I began this idea, posting on my "collection" of children, it was sarcastic, a bit "tongue in cheek" as it were.  And in a way it still is.  I don't view my children as items, possessions, or material gain.  But they are, in a very real sense, the collection of my years of tutelage, prayers, tears and my joy.

Check out other collectors at WoW.