My love of antiques comes from my great aunt, Lola  - and her antique shop in Port Acres in the 1960's.  She let me have the run of the place,  gave me a Dick and Jane Reader along with an old Rosary and a few other items that I still have.  An eccentric wonderful woman -she instilled in me a love of the old, the eccentric, the unusual and  the ability to recognize the wisdom of the elder generation,.  My whole family was, and is my support system,  and  we all have some love of collecting.   I had an idyllic childhood and turned my love of collecting into a hobby I love.  My grandmother's ironing sprinkler bottle was the first item I collected and now I have more than 100 ironing sprinkler bottles, none of which are ever used. Grandma  also passed down to all of us the love of good food, which she would share with anyone who came to Sunday dinner.  "There is always enough for one more", she would say and her fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, cream gravy, and desserts of pecan pie, or lemon meringue pies are legendary.  I own and live in my grandparent's house and would not trade it and its memories for a mansion.

How blessed I am to have known my family, I thank God for his grace.

 As Bob Seger  once sang, " These are the memories that make me a wealthy man".