Another Day In My Home Office

Pieces Of The Past

To quote my old pal, the now defunct Cap'n Buddy animatronic talking bear from the creaky paddlewheel boat dock of the Carowinds Theme Park in Charlotte, North Carolina ... "Oh, hello (clack clack)! Didn't see you (whirr, clack) standing there!" Welcome to what is supposedly "my page" but looks like the thousands of other ones now popping up on eBay that use the same template. Just call me Patty Duke, I guess. My name is Terry Collins. I live in Mount Airy, North Carolina which is best known for being Andy Griffith's hometown and loose model for the fictional Mayberry. Things are lovely here, and we recently welcomed Andy back home in high style, naming a section of the major highway "The Andy Griffith Parkway." Meanwhile, back in Charlotte, musty old Cap'n Buddy is silent. His berth (actually, his booth -- which looked like the one Lucy gave Charlie Brown all the bad advice from) is all boarded up now, and some nights I wonder if he's trapped inside, Poe-like, behind the painted wood of his white coffin. His annoyingly loud clacking eyes and jaw closed forevermore.

So What Is This "DEBRIS" Anyway?

What does the above have to do with collecting? Well, to get all Fat Albert like (or He-Man like for you children of the 1980s), here's the moral -- enjoy your stuff! Collect it and treasure it ... for what amuses us now (or amused us yesterday) could be gone tomorrow -- the toy racks cleared for the latest trend, the boxes in the attic molded with time or even (shudder) sold in a yard sale, the packed away baseball cards and comic books consumed by vermin and silverfish ... all gone. Take out those dolls, lunch boxes, books, playsets, drinking glasses, push puppets, fast food toys, records, etc., and stick them on a shelf for your own enlightenment, and the delight of visitors into your abode. You'll be glad you did, but learn to quickly hate the extra dusting. I collect what I sell here on eBay and I sell what I collect. Pop culture debris is my obsession ... for what was thrown away yesterday will be the images and icons that haunt our memories into adulthood. The movies, the books, the television shows, the comics, and the music of our youth are what drive our souls. Obvious? I guess so, but only to the true collector-born!