The Early Years: A Retrospective Told in Buttons and Pins

Like most kids I collected various things throughout my childhood, including stuffed animals, horse figurines, knives with antler handles, stamps, and a button collection. Most of my collections were given away or sold at garage sales over the years as they lost meaning or garnered scorn for their age inappropriateness (although I still keep my prize horses boxed up in the basement). Somehow, my button collection escaped the purging episodes of my mother, myself, and the multiple moves I went through.

So when my buttons resurfaced recently, I wondered…would they reveal anything about my childhood that I had forgotten? Would they say anything about my current state, 20 years later? Given the current button craze, how would my buttons stack up? Was it time to finally purge my button collection, two decades too late?

I believe I gathered these buttons of my own volition.

I compiled my favorite buttons (namely, the ones I actually remember) into a mini-autobiography. Come on, nobody else was going to write it, so I took matters into my own hands. Turns out, most people like it when you hand them an autobiography instead of a business card.

The 45-second story of my life from 1981-1989, told in buttons & pins.

I grew up in Madras, Oregon.

As a youngster I participated in things, including a bike-a-thon on a hotwheels tricycle, geography bees, fire safety training and coloring contests about staying drug free.

Random buttons. I do like to trill and might attend a keyboard carnival again if asked. I don't like home brew (or brew of any kind), and I definitely don't like it when cats brush their teeth and spit out fish bones.

I spent a good amount of my childhood in Danmark, where apparently they give out buttons like candy: at concerts, at the down comforter store, at the airport.

Traveling as a child was mostly determined by my parents. Danmark, Idaho, Danmark, Idaho, New York. I've never been to Oklahoma; I'm not sure where that pin came from. Maybe a trucker?

My parents also gave me lots of buttons to fill out the collection. They weren't cool then, they aren't cool now. Thanks mom and dad.

While I’m pretty sure I’ll never wear both of my “With Geography, You’re Nowhere” buttons around town, I think I’ll hang on to the collection for a bit longer…just in case Idaho has a button shortage and wants their spud pin back.