Tuesday, July 21, 2009

thank you

I don't mean to belittle the rest of the wonderful gifts I received on my birthday, but one gift in particular was so incredible I realized, upon receiving it, I didn't actually have the words the say exactly what it meant to me.
My Dad has collected proof sets from the US mint, one for each child he had at the time, ever since I was born in 1988. Each year he would get the latest one, and, after admiring the craftsmanship that went into that year's edition, put them away for safe-keeping. Today, on my 21st birthday, he gave the collection he was keeping for me, to me.
I'm not a materialistic person, in a conventional sense. I believe an object, on it's own, holds little value. Yet, unquestionably, these coins hold a high value to me, not as objects, but as what they represent.
The coins themselves, as my Dad knows well, are masterfully crafted and perfectly preserved in the proof sets. Being an artist myself, I can easily appreciate the amount of work and talent that has gone into creating each and every coin. To the point where, despite the fact that currency is printed in bulk, each coin is, without a doubt, a work of art.
Also, there is one set for each year, a commitment kept for 21 years. Though every success, each year, every argument, each parting of paths, every meeting of ways, and all of the changes our lives have gone through, that commitment has stayed.
So, even in reflection, I have difficulty saying exactly what it is these coins mean to me.
In the end I find I have no greater words than,
thank you.

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