Let us not forget some things....

To be a collector is the grandest thing one can be.

The collection you posess is uniquely yours, nobody else can have it ever. Not even if you sell it, give it away, or bequeath it to your nearest relative.

The reason for this is because it was you, and you alone who set out to build and posess the collection you have. The challenges, excitement, butterflies in the stomach, regrets that maybe you spent too much, the sack lunches instead of eating out for lunch BECAUSE you spent too much, the disappointment of NOT getting that particular coin, the angst when the coin came back maybe a grade lower than you expected, the cussing at the post office and/or the mint because the "raw" coin has not shown yet.

All of this will only ever be felt by you over the collection that you built. Nobody will ever understand it like you do, ever.

I have always contended that it is never really the objects in any given collection that make a collection unique. I have always held that it is the FEELINGS and memories that any given coin in a collectors set make the collection unique.

I can pick up any of my coins and tell a long story about the process I went through to own it. These stories are similar to yours, but always uniquely mine.

OH, and by the way, your friends and spouses are really tired of hearing about it.

This is why we all post our stories here. Your fellow collectors love a good coin story, and we are always proud when one of our own gets a great coin. We feel it for you, and with you.

I bid you all good luck with the upcoming registry awards. I was never as thrilled as when I won the Best Journal Award last year, and I hope you all will get to know that feeling as well.

All the best wishes and thanks to all of you for inspiring me!!