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Isn't it funny how one little thing that's given to you as a teen/young adult could effect you many years later as you are in your early 30's and going through the motions of living in a pandemic and the worst depression you've ever been through?
Well that's how it went for the 1993 Elvis stamp (among a few others) I got from my mother after her mother/my grandmother passed away. This brightly colored stamp with Elvis on in singing with a microphone up to his face and that usual grin has been with me for a long time. I'm not even a big fan of the artist, but I always liked the yellow, pink and purple colors. I got a few others from after my grandmother passed that were not in an album but kept together still safely, but now I cannot recall what they were. My grandmother, Doris passed away when I was very young, but I do remember small things like visiting her apartment, her playing jazz and swing music, her mean black cat named kitty, her love for all creatures be it bugs, squirrels, chipmunks and the like, her always wanting to wear nice dresses, hair and makeup done, all of her plants, her little nick nacks around. Then I remember the darker times before she passed and visiting her before she passed in nursing homes and hospitals. Her not remembering who my sister and I were and it upsetting her so we'd have to go and sit in the waiting area, which wasn't so bad looking back because she wasn't herself then and I remember how hard it was on my mom to see her mom in that situation. I know I'm going on a rant here, but this little lady (She was little, I think maybe 5 feet or so?) was the reason I got my first ever postal stamps.
My mother trusted me to have them after she passed away. So there they sat in different little boxes over the years. I always kept them safe. I have few belongs from those who have passed away and I like to hold safe to help remember them. Now we come into the year 2020. Many things have happen to me by this point. Not only was I a home health aide and personally dealing with the covid-19 pandemic but I was also dealing with the hardest and scariest decision I ever had to make at the age of 32. So here I was five days a week going into covid houses, with my full PPE on, taking care of those with covid or being in the house that held other covid victims. Going back out to my car, stripping off my PPE hoping I would be able to come home and be safe from this rapid disaster that I saw everywhere I turned. I had some patients and families who supported me and others who were very offended by me gowning up (as we call it sometimes). I would come home mentality and physically exhausted, just done with it all. Then I had to make that heart wrenching choice that I still live with today. I'm not sure if I will go into details about that, but just know it set me into a world of depression like I never felt before.
So my days became sad, empty, bitter, regretful and lost. One night when I couldn't sleep I was cleaning in my room and came across those stamps. Elvis and the others. I was so happy to see them again. The little details and stories behind them. Then I looked into stamp collecting online and within a few weeks later I was getting different mass packets off of E-Bay to sort and learn about, buying albums and starting my collection. My life slowly was getting better now that I had this new interest. As a dear fried of mine once said, it gave me a sense of control when everything else in the world I had little control over. It makes sense.
Now I cannot remember the timeline of how things went down, but somewhere along the way I learned my grandfather Raymond, my father's father collected postal stamps. He had many of them, a huge collection of international stamps. He had a love for cartoons, Disney and this greatly showed with his stamp collection. His wife, Emma, my step-grandmother also had a love for stamps and helped with this collection. This collection went to my sister, who after I asked her about it, gave it to me. I felt so happy going through his stamps and adding them to my albums. He died when I was very young as well and I felt connected to him again. The few memories I do have of him was climbing up in his lap as a young child, coloring with him and watching cartoons for hours in this big blue chair. He would always hide candy bars for us and himself and we would sneak them when his wife wasn't looking.
Also my mother found more of her mother Doris's stamp albums. She had a royal wedding one, a few other historical ones in sets and of course more Elvis stamps, these all still together - never used before. And my mother started collecting as well, she had a very little album with various stamps and gave me that as well. My heart was overjoyed with all of this.
Then later on - I'm terrible with time and memories - I was going through old family albums with my mom of her side. She has quite a few nice photos, letters and information on her side of the family. I came across news articles about my grandfather, her father. His name was Vernon. Also known as the Kansas kid, he got this nickname in 1928 by a local writer who since he was into rodeos and played in some short/low budget films and he had antique stores where he lived out west. He lived in various states out there, being Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. This is my grandfather who married my grandmother Doris who I mentioned at the start of this now very long entry who I first got her postal stamps. And he also collected postal stamps. Mainly ones of horses, as the article says. (I have them and would like to share them on here, but I'm not sure how) This marks a very important moment in my life where I now knew of three of my grandparents and my mother were all collectors. I sometimes wonder if my sweet grandmother Joan was (My grandfather Raymond's first wife), I didn't know her very well as she passed away when I was young as well. She's sort of a mystery on my dad's side.
Now I shouldn't add too much more, other than I've gotten more stamps over the years from some very nice and generous people. I've met some nice people online as well through facebook stamp groups. I'm back in this beautiful and happy hobby of learning, collecting and caring for these small pieces of history and art. Deep down in my heart I feel a great love for my family and their similar interest.
Thank you for reading my second post. I hope it wasn't much of a bore. :-p
Well that's how it went for the 1993 Elvis stamp (among a few others) I got from my mother after her mother/my grandmother passed away. This brightly colored stamp with Elvis on in singing with a microphone up to his face and that usual grin has been with me for a long time. I'm not even a big fan of the artist, but I always liked the yellow, pink and purple colors. I got a few others from after my grandmother passed that were not in an album but kept together still safely, but now I cannot recall what they were. My grandmother, Doris passed away when I was very young, but I do remember small things like visiting her apartment, her playing jazz and swing music, her mean black cat named kitty, her love for all creatures be it bugs, squirrels, chipmunks and the like, her always wanting to wear nice dresses, hair and makeup done, all of her plants, her little nick nacks around. Then I remember the darker times before she passed and visiting her before she passed in nursing homes and hospitals. Her not remembering who my sister and I were and it upsetting her so we'd have to go and sit in the waiting area, which wasn't so bad looking back because she wasn't herself then and I remember how hard it was on my mom to see her mom in that situation. I know I'm going on a rant here, but this little lady (She was little, I think maybe 5 feet or so?) was the reason I got my first ever postal stamps.
My mother trusted me to have them after she passed away. So there they sat in different little boxes over the years. I always kept them safe. I have few belongs from those who have passed away and I like to hold safe to help remember them. Now we come into the year 2020. Many things have happen to me by this point. Not only was I a home health aide and personally dealing with the covid-19 pandemic but I was also dealing with the hardest and scariest decision I ever had to make at the age of 32. So here I was five days a week going into covid houses, with my full PPE on, taking care of those with covid or being in the house that held other covid victims. Going back out to my car, stripping off my PPE hoping I would be able to come home and be safe from this rapid disaster that I saw everywhere I turned. I had some patients and families who supported me and others who were very offended by me gowning up (as we call it sometimes). I would come home mentality and physically exhausted, just done with it all. Then I had to make that heart wrenching choice that I still live with today. I'm not sure if I will go into details about that, but just know it set me into a world of depression like I never felt before.
So my days became sad, empty, bitter, regretful and lost. One night when I couldn't sleep I was cleaning in my room and came across those stamps. Elvis and the others. I was so happy to see them again. The little details and stories behind them. Then I looked into stamp collecting online and within a few weeks later I was getting different mass packets off of E-Bay to sort and learn about, buying albums and starting my collection. My life slowly was getting better now that I had this new interest. As a dear fried of mine once said, it gave me a sense of control when everything else in the world I had little control over. It makes sense.
Now I cannot remember the timeline of how things went down, but somewhere along the way I learned my grandfather Raymond, my father's father collected postal stamps. He had many of them, a huge collection of international stamps. He had a love for cartoons, Disney and this greatly showed with his stamp collection. His wife, Emma, my step-grandmother also had a love for stamps and helped with this collection. This collection went to my sister, who after I asked her about it, gave it to me. I felt so happy going through his stamps and adding them to my albums. He died when I was very young as well and I felt connected to him again. The few memories I do have of him was climbing up in his lap as a young child, coloring with him and watching cartoons for hours in this big blue chair. He would always hide candy bars for us and himself and we would sneak them when his wife wasn't looking.
Also my mother found more of her mother Doris's stamp albums. She had a royal wedding one, a few other historical ones in sets and of course more Elvis stamps, these all still together - never used before. And my mother started collecting as well, she had a very little album with various stamps and gave me that as well. My heart was overjoyed with all of this.
Then later on - I'm terrible with time and memories - I was going through old family albums with my mom of her side. She has quite a few nice photos, letters and information on her side of the family. I came across news articles about my grandfather, her father. His name was Vernon. Also known as the Kansas kid, he got this nickname in 1928 by a local writer who since he was into rodeos and played in some short/low budget films and he had antique stores where he lived out west. He lived in various states out there, being Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. This is my grandfather who married my grandmother Doris who I mentioned at the start of this now very long entry who I first got her postal stamps. And he also collected postal stamps. Mainly ones of horses, as the article says. (I have them and would like to share them on here, but I'm not sure how) This marks a very important moment in my life where I now knew of three of my grandparents and my mother were all collectors. I sometimes wonder if my sweet grandmother Joan was (My grandfather Raymond's first wife), I didn't know her very well as she passed away when I was young as well. She's sort of a mystery on my dad's side.
Now I shouldn't add too much more, other than I've gotten more stamps over the years from some very nice and generous people. I've met some nice people online as well through facebook stamp groups. I'm back in this beautiful and happy hobby of learning, collecting and caring for these small pieces of history and art. Deep down in my heart I feel a great love for my family and their similar interest.
Thank you for reading my second post. I hope it wasn't much of a bore. :-p
