I will be scarce around here the next month, but I hope to be back....thoughts on the past five year
coinlieutenant
Posts: 9,310 ✭✭✭✭✭
Good evening everyone. Most of you are asleep, but this is the first chance I have had to sit down and write some of my thoughts on the last few years.
And dont worry Cammie, coins are referenced and probably imaged, so dont have a coronary...
Five years ago, almost to the day, I came to the Monterey peninsula. I was a young Ensign in the Navy,
just commissioned about a year a half earlier. I had spent most of my life growing up in Southern Illinois,
school in Annapolis, with small periods of duty in Pensacola, Corpus Christi and Gulfport.
I arrived in Monterey and knew that I had found a place that would live up to and meet my requirements
for how life should be lived. I fell in love with the area almost immediately. For those of you that have never
been here, try and imagine the most majestic, tranquil, temperate place that you can find and then place
only a modicum of people in the area as to not overcrowd such a special place. Picture a place without rain
most of the year, but filled with life and beauty that makes you yearn for everyone you know and love to
experience it on a daily basis. Picture heaven and you will have an idea of Monterey.
I cut my teeth in the Navy here, fell in love with my wife here and fell back in love with numismatics here.
Five years in the one spot in the Navy is a rare occurance, and for it to be in this place is a true blessing.
For as special as the area is, the people that I have met and shared the experience are even more important.
As a military officer it is easy to allow yourself to associate with only other officers. Living here this long and
seeing my officer friends come and go while I stayed allowed me to branch out and meet locals who I have come
to know and love and I must admit, today as I was playing golf on the ocean and marveling at how it was the
second day of winter, I realized truly how difficult it would be to say goodbye to both the land and the people.
Steinbeck writes of the area and was obviously entranced with it. I can wholeheartedly understand.
I have found that many true numismatists are also admirers of other such fine things. I think that those that really
appreciate the beauty of a coin also love art, the sight a of a gorgeous woman, or the grandeur of a place such as
this. That is what makes coin collecting such an addiction. To think that we can own something so beautiful and
call it our own is intoxicating and makes us feel relevant and important in such a large and confusing world.
I think of all the sights I have seen while I have been here and am in awe. Then I think of all the coins that have
passed through my hands to customers and in my own collection. Coins have certainly been a highlight of my
peninsula experience. And just like Monterey, they are more thoroughly enjoyed because of the people that I share
the experience with. Numismatics would be nothing without the people. Can you imagine buying a brand new coin
and not being able to show it to anyone? That is the way I feel about Monterey as well. So I will leave you with some
things I consider beautiful in my life. I am a beauty junkie...and so blessed to be one.
Will be in Hawaii around the middle of January and when I get set up, I will be back.
And dont worry Cammie, coins are referenced and probably imaged, so dont have a coronary...
Five years ago, almost to the day, I came to the Monterey peninsula. I was a young Ensign in the Navy,
just commissioned about a year a half earlier. I had spent most of my life growing up in Southern Illinois,
school in Annapolis, with small periods of duty in Pensacola, Corpus Christi and Gulfport.
I arrived in Monterey and knew that I had found a place that would live up to and meet my requirements
for how life should be lived. I fell in love with the area almost immediately. For those of you that have never
been here, try and imagine the most majestic, tranquil, temperate place that you can find and then place
only a modicum of people in the area as to not overcrowd such a special place. Picture a place without rain
most of the year, but filled with life and beauty that makes you yearn for everyone you know and love to
experience it on a daily basis. Picture heaven and you will have an idea of Monterey.
I cut my teeth in the Navy here, fell in love with my wife here and fell back in love with numismatics here.
Five years in the one spot in the Navy is a rare occurance, and for it to be in this place is a true blessing.
For as special as the area is, the people that I have met and shared the experience are even more important.
As a military officer it is easy to allow yourself to associate with only other officers. Living here this long and
seeing my officer friends come and go while I stayed allowed me to branch out and meet locals who I have come
to know and love and I must admit, today as I was playing golf on the ocean and marveling at how it was the
second day of winter, I realized truly how difficult it would be to say goodbye to both the land and the people.
Steinbeck writes of the area and was obviously entranced with it. I can wholeheartedly understand.
I have found that many true numismatists are also admirers of other such fine things. I think that those that really
appreciate the beauty of a coin also love art, the sight a of a gorgeous woman, or the grandeur of a place such as
this. That is what makes coin collecting such an addiction. To think that we can own something so beautiful and
call it our own is intoxicating and makes us feel relevant and important in such a large and confusing world.
I think of all the sights I have seen while I have been here and am in awe. Then I think of all the coins that have
passed through my hands to customers and in my own collection. Coins have certainly been a highlight of my
peninsula experience. And just like Monterey, they are more thoroughly enjoyed because of the people that I share
the experience with. Numismatics would be nothing without the people. Can you imagine buying a brand new coin
and not being able to show it to anyone? That is the way I feel about Monterey as well. So I will leave you with some
things I consider beautiful in my life. I am a beauty junkie...and so blessed to be one.
Will be in Hawaii around the middle of January and when I get set up, I will be back.
0
Comments
Cameron Kiefer
42/92
It sounds like you might be on a move. You had mentioned a move before and wasn't sure if this is the time or not. Let us know.
Take care. Happy Holidays.
Fare thee well!
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
I spent basic training there and never DID figure out how we could march uphill in the morning and uphill again at night to return to barracks.
and can hit the HNL show in the fall and show them some real rainbows
ps: Monterey coast and Saipan look very similar.