I know this might sound crazy and long but hear me out. TLDR is in BOLD Today my wife had a friend over, a girl who is new to our church group because she just moved to Kansas from California. The girl originally grew up in Guatemala but she has been in the U.S. for almost 10 years now, but she still seemed a little timid being in a new area of a country she's not originally from. My church group also consists of 18-30 year old young adults so its always a little hard coming into an environment where everyone already knows each other and you feel like the outcast. Anyways, my wife invited her over so they could go to a movie but even after meeting her a few times she was still very shy. We were giving her a tour of our house and when we came to my office she instantly walked over to my dresser, I thought to look at my shelf of drinks, but she actually reached for my coin album. She turned around and brightly smiled as she shouted, "Hey I collect coins too!" This was awesome because her proclamation was the first time I saw uncross her arms from the shy and uncomfortable stance she was in to a more comfortable state. I continued to show her all my favorite coins and then I brought out the BIG guns. My partially filled 7070 and my sole slabbed coin! All these got her super excited and she continuously proclaimed "I've never seen these before!". She only collected foreign coins (foreign to me) and even a steel penny blew her mind. So once she left the room I ran into my desk and pulled out all my different slips and starting frantically stapling as many coins as I could inside! I ended up finding a silver quarter, dime, half, a nice shiny steel cent, a couple loose wheats, a few buffalo nickels and a couple Canadian coins and got them to her. She lit up instantly and just kept asking me if I was sure she could have them. I was more than happy to share and it made it even cooler that she was so excited about them. I collect coins because I love the way the look, the history behind them, the stories they tell, the uniqueness of special varieties, and the all around hunt. But the thing I love most about collecting is getting to share my collection with others. Not necessarily give things away all the time, more along show people so they can enjoy them as much as I do, but this is an example of one of the things I love most about coin collecting is seeing someone appreciate something as much as I did when I first got it even if it means giving it away in order to achieve that. I've personally experienced this generosity when @Lunchbox John sent me an awesome fattie 1864 Indian head and a proof 55 wheat for free last time I got coins from him, both were my first! I can still remember my dad giving me some of my first coins and I would run around and show people my new treasure, and now I picture her showing all her friends. One day my kids will get to sift through all my coins and I'll get to watch it start from the beginning all over, just like my father watched me...
It's a pleasure to be on this site to hear a person like you talk about coins. its exciting to me, I sort of feel the same way and love to share. Thanks for sharing.