Bookmarked: Marking the Beginning

by Lindy Gamolo

“You collect what? Bookmarks?!”

Yep, that thing you use to mark the page you left at before you called it a day and dozed off. Just like every collection that has ever existed, it started with one piece, though mine wasn’t necessarily the first piece I owned.

Instead, it was this simple Hallmark bookmark given by someone I wasn’t that close to that prompted the idea of collecting it. I had about two or three bookmarks already before getting this one as a birthday present. I thought,

“Hey, what a nice little sweet thing for a friendly gesture.”

Then I bought several more and kept them in my pile of stuff in case I would need them one day for giveaway. I gave one, two and a few more away but was still left with several bookmarks. Friends would see them and assumed I must be collecting them, which I never negated, despite the fact I wasn’t really going in that direction…yet.

Simultaneously, I got fonder of reading, exploring the classics and the authors and titles “you should have read.” It was really coincidental at first that my bookmarks grew in number together with the books I owned. Later on, I made some sense of it. I thought maybe my heightened fascination with bookmarks had something to do with my love for books and reading. Reading made me realize the utility of such a simple and inconspicuous piece of a rectangular paper—though they come now in many forms and materials.

Now that pretty much tells you how I began collecting bookmarks. There wasn’t a divine calling, a metaphorical or obscure occurrence, or a profound save-the-Earth cause to begin with. But I’m glad I did and it was the perfect way to start it.

In five years, my collection grew bigger than I could ever have imagined. Not that I own a room of bookmarks, but it’s enough for me to feel amazed by the passion, time, discipline and, not to mention, amount of money I’ve devoted to it. I would have never accumulated them if I started earlier or later. Such passion… I envy my old self.

Anyway, if you’re interested in starting your own bookmark collection or if you just like reading about them (I know you do!), check this space out for future Bookmarked posts about my wonderful experience of collecting bookmarks!

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