Is It Lust?

I have a tendency to write notes on envelopes and other random pieces of paper when the need to remember something strikes me. The other day, I was organizing a pile of things (another tendency) that I wanted to save and file, and I came across this envelope and the quote, “Collecting begins with lust.” I remembered that I wrote this during one of the Intuit collector tours, and based on other evidence on the envelope, I concluded it was from last December and that Doug Bristol was the quoted collector.

Lust, I thought, really? But I looked it up, and after I got past all the sexual references, I found the definition “intense desire for something.” That made me think of a recent experience involving my newest collection of wooden mushrooms. Since I found one wooden mushroom at Marshall’s, I feel almost compelled to return again and again and look for more. On one trip, I found one from India, but it had what I thought was an enamel coat over the cap so that only the stem looked wooden and like it belonged with the rest of my mushrooms. So I reluctantly left without it. But I pined for it or dare I say lusted for it and when I realized the enamel was the same color as the inside of the bowl on the shelf above the mushrooms, I returned to Marshall’s the next day and was relieved that it was still there.

Lust satiated!