Orange Fish

 A few months ago, a coworker gave me a puzzle to complete with my mom. It was a puzzle of Matisse’s “The Gold Fish.” On Monday night, I hung the framed puzzle on my wall. It looks really nice with the rest of my collection.

 

“But why do you collect orange fish?” you might ask. Well…Here’s the story:

 

Back up 22 years to the summer of 2000.

 

I was serving as the pre-camp staff worship leader at camp.

 

Wal-mart was promoting a fish theme for their summer picnic supplies.

 

For the final service of the week, I planned a special worship service that involved serving communion.

 

My plan was that I would serve the Camp Director, Office Staff, and Unit Leaders, the latter of whom would then serve the counselors and assistant counselors in their unit.

 

I needed something to serve the communion elements from, and I liked the fish cutting boards that Wal-mart was selling, so I bought cutting boards for the bread, ice cream bowls for the juice, and matching fish candles for ambiance.

 

At the end of the night, after a particularly meaningful worship experience, I gave each Unit Leader her cutting board, ice cream bowl, and candle.

 

I kept the other set for myself.

 

It was my favorite color.

 

My favorite color was orange.

 

Sometime after that experience, someone asked me what I collected.

 

I didn’t really collect anything at the time, but I remembered that night at camp, and I thought of that orange fish cutting board, and so I said, “Orange fish.”

 

I figured that orange fish were safe. I’d never really seen orange fish, so I wasn’t worried that my collection would grow.

 

I was wrong.

 

Partly because of Nemo, and partly because an orange fish collection is just unique enough to pique people’s interest, my collection is now very large, and it includes orange fish from around the world.

 

I have one curio cabinet of orange fish trinkets, one ornament holder of orange fish ornaments, and all four walls of the office covered in orange fish art.

 

I imagine that my collection is worth very little to anyone else in the world, but to me, it’s 22 years of people thinking of me.

 

And for that—and a spreadsheet that helps me remember where each fish came from—a spreadsheet that now includes a new piece of orange fish art—I am grateful.

 

What about you? What do you collect? And what’s the story of your collection? I’d love to hear.