The Collection

Most kids like collecting things--bottle caps, stuffed animals, cards, insect headstones, etc. I've stopped collecting Pokemon and YuGiOh cards, stopped picking up bottle caps, and interesting rocks and the like, but I haven't given up on my money obsession.


I like money like anyone else. Cash = ability to live. However, my collection has nothing to do with monetary value.

By 3rd grade, I sent nearly every buck to the bank. I lived in the library. I spent recess after recess with my head buried in a book, my tongue trying out word after word after wonderful word. When a friend would travel, my mother would have to grab me to keep me from clinging to their leg, begging to go. But, when they returned, I brightened at their strange stories and colorful currencies.

And so, I began my collection. Money from Thailand, India, Mexico, China, South Korea, Japan...

It was a fervent, euphoric addiction, my love of words and of places in the world. Silly as it sounds, I've spent nearly a decade saving and studying just to experience it all myself, instead of living through the yen and zloty I've collected.