Pill Box Collection

 

I don’t know if it’s a real memory or if it’s one that I’ve made up, but I have this memory of my mom always having a pill box in her purse. The memory is so strong that, at one point in my life, I believed that everyone had a pill box in her purse. 

 

Naturally, then, when my Grandmother Deaton died and we found a pill box in her stuff, I decided that it was a good time to start my own pill box collection. In the fifteen years since that beginning, my collection has grown to over 45.  

 

I have all of my pill boxes in a curio cabinet and catalogued on a spreadsheet. It’s neat to look at their descriptions and see who gave me what and when. One of my favorites is a box that G-mama gave me during a time when we both took the same blood pressure medicine. She gave me the box and included one blood pressure pill with the gift! The pill is still in the box 😊. Another of my favorites is an orange fish box that one of my choir members gave me when I was music minister at Antioch. Who knew that someone could find something that combined both of my collections so beautifully!...

 

Each year at Christmastime, my school hosts Secret Santa. As part of Secret Santa, we fill out a form with our likes and dislikes. While some of my likes change from year to year, I always list that I collect orange fish and pill boxes. Thanks to Nemo, I’ve received many orange fish over the years, but I’d never received a pill box…until this year!  

 

Tuesday was sparkle and shine day. I figured that I’d get a shiny ornament for the day, but instead I received two shiny pill boxes! I was elated! I immediately showed off my new boxes to my coworkers and then almost as immediately added the new acquisitions to my spreadsheet! Two more boxes for my collection!

 

What about you? What do you collect? Or what did you used to collect before you started cleaning things out in an effort to simplify? Collections may not always have a definite beginning but they almost always have a definite significance and meaning. I'd love to hear about yours this Holiday Season.