by Steve Pladna

I have always been interested in STUFF – lots of different STUFF.

My parents say that when I was very young I kept a little suitcase full of soaps from motels (I don’t remember this and I can only conjecture that these soaps came from family trips and business trips of my father). In any event this apparently was an omen of things to come.

The first thing I remember being attracted to was STAMPS. My grandfather, who I always loved going to see because he took us (my brother and sister included) out to do fun things, and spent time with us doing what we wanted to do, was a stamp collector. I guess I was trying to reciprocate his attention by doing something he liked to do. In any event I started collecting worldwide stamps.

My first venture as I recall resulted in me GLUEING the stamps on a page (for those who are not aware of the nuances of stamp collecting, this is a NO-NO. Oh well, live and learn as they say (not to worry – these stamps were from some mail order packet – not expensive, but for anyone with a passion for stamps, you hate to ruin even a junk one.

My second collection started in high school – COINS. My best friend collected coins, and since I wanted him to remain my best friend I must have figured I should do some of the things he liked. So I started collecting mint sets and proof sets.

I actually started the coins back in 1964 when the KENNEDY half-dollars came out. I was so interested in getting lots of these for some reason (but at the time had no interest what so ever in the FRANLKINS that were still available – STUPID, STUPID, STUPID).

I kept up my collections through college – in fact most of my money from working in the dining hall went to my stamps and the remainder to my coins. I didn’t do a lot of going out because I was always short of cash. But I had my STUFF and that was enough for me.

Despite this I was able to divert enough cash to woo and win my then girlfriend Rosemarie. We got married after I graduated. I started my first job. Two years later we had our first son Todd. And I began to get interested in more STUFF.

My foray into FRANKLIN MINT STUFF (I won’t raise them to the level of collectibles – that would be blasphemy in my mind) is known to everyone who came to the 2 meetings where I brought my show and tell STUFF. There were other various and sundry additions of miscellaneous STUFF – mostly due to what I now know is the selling of mailing lists to gullible people – of which I confess I was one.

I was making more money than I had thought possible. I was making more money than I thought could be spent in a year. I figured what better thing to do with it but to buy more STUFF. And that is pretty much exactly what I did. Early on we had just about everything we needed, so there was no pressure or need to pay for any family expenses other than my STUFF. (Actually this was my own misguided perception – in truth my wife quietly did without many things she wanted, and her parents provided many things we needed for the children – I had truly unknowingly put my STUFF before my family).

Unfortunately when you are young, thoughts of retirement and college are far far off – so you don’t (at least I didn’t) worry or plan for those things early on – NOT A GOOD IDEA.

By now, I was actually COLLECTING STAMPS (I had specialized into U.S., U.N.), COINS (still only MINT SETS, PROOF SETS), SOUVENIR CARDS (these were started by the U.N., and had already been issued by the POST OFFICE) and my ever eclectic SPECIAL COLLECTIBLES (e.g.: FRANKLIN MINT STUFF).

I even got a part-time job in a stamp and coin shop (I was hired for my computer "skills" – actually all they wanted was a data entry clerk) as a way supposedly for me to earn some of the continuous stream of money needed to keep my collections up to date. I was a very busy guy during this time also – bowling weekly (what else is there to do in the frozen north during the winter), acting in the YOUNGSTOWN PLAYHOUSE in a couple of shows a year (I can honestly say that I knew and worked with ED ONEILL of ALL IN THE FAMILY fame when he was just starting out), trying to figure out how to deal with a son that had AUTISM, and dealing with a very active 2-year old son (Brett was with us at this time).

It turned out that NORTH CAROLINA was the place to be for Todd. So we moved. I remember that I put all my COLLECTED STUFF into a U-HAUL, along with other valuable assets like my NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC COLLECTION and my COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS (which would be EVER so useful out in the real business world) because I could not trust it to the movers. My wife and 2 sons and I got into the car and we went off.

We actually had to stay in a motel for some time (with Todd this was very tough; add 3-year old Brett and it became pure HELL) and the U-HAUL was sitting in the lean-to garage of our realtor (not to worry, I had the foresight to ask if I could place my COLLECTED STUFF in their house for safe keeping, which was very fortuitous considering we moved in August and unlike now it seems, there was a LOT of rain in August and a LOT of humidity – something OHIO has very little of).

I would say the purchase of our first home was the defining moment, when my COLLECTIONS turned into ACCUMULATIONS. That, and the birth of our third son MATTHEW. And also the discovery that Brett had Attention Deficit Disorder and was Hyperactive to boot.  

And my ACCUMULATIONS expanded – I was now into STAMPS: U.S., U.N., HAWAII; COINS: MINT SETS, PROOF SETS, COMMEMORATIVES PROOF AND UNCIRCULATED, BULLION PROOF AND UNCIRCULATED, PRESTIGE PROOFS, SILVER PROOFS; SOUVENIR CARDS: BEP, U.S.P.O., U.N., ASDA, APS, ANA, INTAGLIO PROOFS, ABNC. I was now into the INVESTMENT potential – I never bought just 1 of anything – always 2 (one to keep, one to sell), sometimes 3 or 4 (keep, sell, save for investment). 

STAMPS were no longer coming out a few dozen a year, but literally HUNDREDS a year – and not single issues but multiple se-tenant and multiple variety/version issues. COINS, especially the COMMEMORATIVES, had true to form duplicated the excesses of the past and were coming out 3 and 4 a year in 3 and 4 versions and packaging options (I never fell for the packaging ploy – I was smart – I only got sucked into the many issues ploy). SOUVENIR CARDS were not being over issued, but because I was saving so may different kinds, they too were becoming a burden. 

What has started out as hundreds of dollars a year was now in the thousands. What has started out as albums and cases was now in boxes and bags every year. Instead of shelves to display, I had piles to hoard under a table. 

It is no wonder that over the last 5 to 10 years I was suffering cyclic minor depressions. 

I need to mention here that I also love to garden – I like the beauty of pretty flowers and plants (this undoubtedly came from my first exposure to plants that was a fluky success, which as a digression I will describe here). 

As a child my grandmother always came down and planted our flowers because my family never had the money to do it (no doubt due to a habit of my father to spend all the money he had – no, he was not a collector, but this is another story – perhaps I had a genetic predisposition to the same thing). One year she bought me a canna – you have undoubtedly seen them on I-40 – the tall leafy plants with the flowers on top.  

Now a regular canna will get to maybe 6 feet at best. My canna grew to be over 15 feet tall. It grew above the roof of our house. Strangers would stop and come up to see what it was. I followed my instructions and dug up the bulb at the end of the season and replanted it the next, but it never came back (I expect this genetic mutant blew it’s wad that first year and that was that).  

My quest for the elusive giant canna may well be why I like to garden, and why I especially like big showy plants. And because I like LOTS OF STUFF, this must be why I was attracted to trying to grow lots of different plants instead of a few in large numbers.  

Why I was determined to make plants grow where I wanted them instead of where they needed to be placed is unknown to me. All I know is that it was partly this that caused me to get depressed, and mostly this that finally led to my crash and burn. 

My early depressions usually occurred in the winter, when I could not be outside gardening. So what better way to combat that but to start HOUSEPLANTS. And let’s not have them in one place but in EVERY ROOM. And let’s not have just a few, but rather a LOT, and let’s not just stick to easy to grow plants, but lets get into exotic hot house plants and cacti and succulents and bromeliads. And just to add spice to my things to do, let’s add GERBILS and HAMSTERS, HERMIT CRABS and CAMELEONS to the pot. 

My later depressions replaced the winter ones, and always occurred the end of June, the beginning of July. This was always the time that the relentless summers here began their reclaiming efforts – drying and killing the spring plantings. Valiant efforts on my part to water till late at night did no good. I would yearly throw up my hands and retreat into myself. I would be out of commission for about a month, and then for some reason I would put it all in perspective again, start making my list of replacements for next year, and move on to the fall and winter season where I could relax because I have much less to do during this time frame. 

I need to interject at this point that I am not a person that likes to sit for a long time and do one thing. I need constant stimulation with different things. I like 1-day projects at work, not long term ones. I like buying new STUFF but only spend enough time to put it away and go on to something else. 

I have, for some time, wondered why I was involved in hobbies where long periods of time and energy need to be spent in research and mounting and other activities. I was not interested in any of these facets of my hobbies – just getting the STUFF- that was all I wanted. 

1998 became my defining year – my midlife crisis year I guess you could say. 

I am a senior programmer at Duke, and like all other companies all over the world, we are working very hard on the YEAR 2000 BUG. I am the project leader for this effort, among other things. Because of the non-availability of staff, we had the option to work PAID OVERTIME in order to get our project out of the shoot quickly and to be done by the desired target date. I jumped at the chance to do this, and for 1 year worked a few hours a night and weekends. The money was great. Lots of STUFF needed buying. There was enough money for my STUFF and lots left over for things that Rosemarie and the kids needed and wanted (oh, did you forget that there were others besides me in this story – apparently I had).

In June of 1998, the bottom fell out and the sky fell in. All the things in my life that I had rolled up in a ball and had been pushing along ahead of me suddenly began rolling downhill out of control and I was trying to stay in front of it and get out of the way. The paid overtime abruptly ended. My computer system at work crashed, and the only way to fix it was to erase it and start over – my backups were unusable because apparently whatever crashed my system was also on the backup. I had spent over 2 years off and on getting my PC working exactly as I wanted and now it was gone. The gardening cycle began again. 

The 2 dozen azaleas I planted began dying. The 2 dozen hostas I planted were being eaten by rabbits. The squirrels continued to empty the bird feeders as fast as I filled them. The hummingbirds apparently did not come back to our house this year. 

I slowly sunk into the deepest pit I have ever been in. I was so physically sore you would have thought I have been in a fight. I could not focus or think about anything. Going to work was just for the image – I literally sat for 8 hours looking at the same screen getting nothing accomplished.  

I had come to the conclusion that my entire life had been spent on things that ultimately did not matter. Since we all die anyway, what was the point of anything. 

I decided that I was finished with the old me – NO MORE STAMPS, NO MORE COINS, NO MORE SOUVENIR CARDS, NO MORE GARDENING. I was even getting convinced I was in the wrong line of work – too much changing too fast and I could not keep up. I hated the computer and I hated the Internet. I was going to get involved with people and experiences – NO MORE STUFF. 

But how do you divest yourself of 30+ years of ACCUMULATIONS quickly (you see, I was at a point where I wished all this STUFF would DISAPPEAR – I did not want to have to look at years of work and effort in trying to dispose it – as I said above, more than 5 minutes of attention is too much for me). 

I literally lost the summer this year – I spent all my time lying down (unable to sleep because of the myriad of thoughts racing through my mind) from July to October. If I did not work in the environment I do with the kind of supervisors I have I would not be working at Duke anymore. 

But my wife finally prodded me enough to go see my doctor. Since my old medication had ceased to work, I got a new one. The transformation was dramatic – in 2 weeks I was alive again – in 4 weeks I was back to my old self (but minus the old ways this time). I also sought help from a therapist – this too has opened my eyes to some things and has helped in areas that the medicine does not. 

So where am I now? Definitely on a new road, and with a lighter backpack. 

I have finally finally learned that simpler is better. I have finally finally learned what I apparently knew all along – that I am a people person first and foremost. I have finally finally learned that going out and doing things is ultimately more rewarding that acquiring STUFF. 

Am I going to divest my holdings – YOU BETCHA. Am I going to get rid of everything – no I can’t do that. I realize that STUFF is part of me – and if I don’t lose sight of what I want to accomplish, then I can truly COLLECT rather than ACCUMULATE. If I specialize and narrow my interests in tune with my financial abilities (given that we have 2 boys up for college soon and our house is in need of some remodeling), I can actually get back to enjoying my hobbies instead of being burdened by them. 

I promised my wife I would give all this STUFF up. I realize, and I think she does too, that while a person can change, a leopard can’t change its spots. We both know that it will take time to refine and hone the new me. 

So this is my swan song in a way – my bidding a fond adieu (for a time anyway). I am going to get out of the clubs and work activities that have taken up my extra time and concentrate and cultivating more personal relationships outside my hobbies. Kind of like gamblers staying away from bookies. I am going to reassess and realign my priorities and directions in my life. 

I will be out of sight, but not out of mind. I will be in touch, but not active for the time being. 

Hopefully perhaps someone else who might be following the same road I did can make a U-turn after reading this. Hobbies are great – but they have to be fun – when they become work they have ceased to serve their purpose and will only make you miserable, along with those around you. 

ENOUGH OF THE STUFF!!!

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