This entry really IS a coin entry..I swear!!

Greetings!!

A snowy April day in Salt Lake City as I write this, and once again the weather has me waxing nostalgic and feeling (this time) optimistic.

In exactly 7 days I will register for classes at the community college to embark on my journey towards my degree in political science, and I am feeling rather euphoric about my decision to get back into college after leaving classes about 10 years ago a year shy of my A.A.S. degree in thermodynamics due to an impending divorce and other major life changes.

I found myself either too busy working, or too uninterested to return to school, as sometimes 60 hour work weeks tend to make one feel. Or was it that I was just too damn tired?

Since I have been in the employ of the local government here, and blessed with time off when I need it, and not having to work more than 40 hours a week, I found that now is a very wise time to further my education, and with the advent of on-line classes, and being eligible for a grant, I know it would have been very UN wise for me NOT to pursue this. And since I do work for the government now, I feel a degree in poli-sci will only benefit me career wise.

This brings me to what collecting coins, and collecting in general has done for my psyche.

Through the hobby of collecting, I have learned to be goal oriented even as a young man. To start and finish a collection is amazing, and it does wonders for the mind as collecting does give your mind an escape and something other than work and career and school to focus on. It gives a purpose that cannot be easily defined and in the end, when I am gone from this earth, my collection will even leave a legacy.

The coins will become a touchstone that my heirs can gaze at and imagine what it was that I went through to acquire the pieces I have left behind.

Yeah, I know...most likely the pieces will become pawn shop fodder, but hey...I can DREAM can't I???

I love my collection and collecting. I know that when the classes seem to be overwhelming and work is being...work.. I know I can gaze on my coins and cherish the stories and feeling behind what it took to acquire them all.

I can't wait to acquire the next coin.... and to get back into school.

All the best!!