My Great-grandfather’s Coin Collection by: Alejandro Ibarra Martínez
Whenever I think about my great-grandfather, I immediately remember about his coin collection. He had coins everywhere at his house. Loose coins, books with plastic sheets full of coins, and even framed coins at the wall. I was just a little boy and didn’t understand the stories he told everyone about the coins, but I do remember that every Sunday when we visited my grandparents, he was sitting in the living room with his book full of coins. He always had his coin collection with him at family reunions, except for those coins that were framed and hanged in his house’s walls. Once a year, every Christmas, we had the opportunity to visit my great-grandparent’s house. He would always give us remote control cars as a present and then, after dinner we would gather together and talk about anything, but he would always talk about his coins. I guess this were very special reunions for everyone in my family because they were able to ask about any coin of his collection. He loved speaking about his coins. I could really see the happiness in his face whenever he showed us a coin. He told us everything about the coin. ¿How old was it? ¿Where was it from? ¿How did he got it? Or even a special story about the coin. He always said that he was going to give away his coin collection to the one that seemed more interested in them. Today, all of his coins are in different places. Some of them are at my grandparent’s house, some of them in my house, and the rest in my aunt’s house. Even though they are now separated at different houses, whenever I see them I remember my great-grandfather. I don’t only remember him, but all of those family reunions we used to have every Sunday through the year and every Christmas. You can really tell that his coin collection was a very unique thing about him and I know that because it is one of the few things I can remember about him. Now that I’m able to understand more things I realize I would definitely like to live those moments again so that I could ask him more about his coin collection. Maybe that way I could tell you a specific story about a coin, ¿Which one is mi favorite one? Or maybe I could even continue my great-grandfather’s coin collection.