Ding, Ding, Ding...!

Alright, so the kids are fed and watered. The row of litter boxes are cleaned and ready. My bag is packed. And, there's a bag full of change weighing down the suitcase. If you're like me, you have a container of some sort where you toss your loose change at the end of the day. I've been doing this for the last couple of years, and I have collected quite a pile despite taking the mass with me in a container to use at the toll booths as I traveled cross country.

One of the things I did was sort through all the quarters looking for the state ones and especially for the ones from this year. I have the first two, hopefully I will get the Arizona one on this trip and then it's just Alaska and Hawaii. We started collecting them when they first came out, and it's hard to imagine that 10 years have passed. I love the designs and the stories behind how they are created. Click here for more information.

As I sorted through the pile, the oldest quarter I found was from 1965. That was before I was born, and I tried to imagine the new minted coin, going from pocket to pocket over the last 43 years. I wonder, which mint did it travel from? Did some teenager use it to buy a pop? Or a cup of coffee? How many cash registers did it pass through? Was it used in a phone booth? An arcade game? Maybe it's been in a slot machine before! Now it's joining the others and traveling from NY to CA then on to Nevada where I'll turn it in to the cashier at the casino where it will be sorted, taken to a bank, and then continue onward... perhaps ending up in someone else's loose change container some day...

Ok, well now I must go to sleep and catch a quick nap before the taxi comes to get me in about 4 hours. I'll do most of my sleeping on the 4 hour flight cross country. This month was so boring, what with being in clinic all day and seeing the same thing day in and day out. Next month I will be back in the E.D. at a different hospital, and a new environment. I'm taking my camera with me, so I'll be ready for the next challenge. And, hopefully, I'll hear the ding, ding, ding of the slot machine. Coins don't fall any more, but they've reproduced the sound so it feels about the same... still, I miss the coins.

See you in a week!