The Field Trip

Alas, for me, that I have never been to a stamp trading session before! Judy, Josh and I had the special opportunity to do just that yesterday morning. To begin, we journeyed to The San Diego Philatelic Library, which is located in Escondido, Ca. It is totally a volunteer and donor supported organization that helps local stamp collectors in southern California. It's a cozy little place, with big tables, chairs, and walls lined with old books, new books, catalogs, and nary a dust bunny to be seen.

We began with what every road journey must begin with: Starbucks. Then scooted on the 78 to Escondido to find the library.

Arrival was exactly what I expected... 4-5 retired looking gentlemen sitting at a table with their books and bags and boxes FULL of stamps. I walked in, first, holding my dad's fishing tackle box, full of stamp related tools and materials, like a timid first grader walking in on the first day of school. You know, gripped tight with both hands?

"Hi, I'm Marcie." Shook hands. "I inherited my dad's stamp collection and I don't know anything."

There were smiles all around, after the initial crooking eyebrow at my bizarre introduction. Judy then, kindly, took over and introduced herself. She's much more charismatic than I. Josh also served as a nice diversion since the stamp library has lots of donations that kids can go through and pick out to put in their books. Josh was shown the donation drawer, I signed my name in the check-in sheet under Judy's conversation, and proceeded to watch.

Stamp trading commenced with no fanfare. It was simply people handing out their books to others and a mutual agreement of how many to trade for. If you wanted a stamp and didn't have any to trade, duplicates were 5 cents each. It was conversation that came and went, like a tide, one moment full of action and then slid into quiet contemplation.

I felt at home, after a while, the gentlemen sliding over their books with comments like, "the girls should see this one." I think they liked that we were there and wanted to learn their lifelong passion. They invited us to come back on a week night and they would help us look through what we had, try and catalog some things, and help us get started.

While explaining this to a friend later in the day, it was like each man (and then a woman came in to trade!) had their each own, distinctive, personality. I could have written a sitcom based on our interaction that morning. Like "Cheers," just for a stamp club. There was the "East Coaster," full of bravado, but with the soft heart of gold on the inside. The leader, Tom, who was eager to help, but a introverted and cutely awkward. A foreigner, all smiles. The quiet, smart one. An older gentleman, kind but hard of hearing. And then the loud and goofy newcomers: US!

Judy, Josh and I had a lot of fun and got some good pointers. We need some tools, some special duplicate folders and things. As we drove off for home, Judy turned to me and said, "You know, I think your dad would have really liked this." I smiled. He really would have enjoyed stamp trading there. And in some cosmic, mystic, or spiritual way, he is.