Collectors

More than 400 strong and counting!

My wife Vivian and daughter Shannon began collecting Beanie Babies years ago. Everywhere we went on vacation at least two or three of these little characters would come home with us. At last count, the girls have amassed more than 400 in their collection— cats, dogs, dinosaurs, clowns, snakes and the list goes on. My wife tells me that some of these rare Beanie Babies will be worth lots of money in the future. I wonder if that means I can retire soon? For now, our granddaughters Ava and Lexi have a ball playing with them—well, not the rare ones with their special name tags! If I’m ever stuck trying to find a name for a new pet, I just have to check out all these nametags and I’m sure I would find a unique one.

I must tell you, these Beanie Babies have had an impact on my life—literally. One day, I decided to move our eight-tiered shelving unit around in the bedroom. The unit was filled with these precious little babies and, as I walked it across the room, a leg broke free and all the beady-eyed characters came tumbling down on top of me.

Luckily, I was home alone so Vivian didn’t witness the event. I piled all the babies in the middle of the bedroom then repaired the shelving unit as quickly as possible. Let’s see, do the dragons belong with the turtles? And was it the monkeys with the teddy bears? I know Vivian spent a considerable amount of time figuring out this arrangement and would kill me if she found out I changed it around in a rush. I finally had them back to normal in a hour or so.

Life was good again until a Beanie Baby that had been hastily stacked on top of another fell to the floor. The gig was up— I confessed and haven’t moved those little monsters around again! ■

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