The 2010 Canadian Summer Special Olympics! - Part III

The Pin Collectors

Many of my best memories will revolve around the pins that were gifted or traded between me and many of the athletes. This pin, from the small community of Neguac, New Brunswick, was the first one I received, from an athlete. It’s older than I am! I imagine a serious collector would be very interested.

I had never collected pins before, but that was soon to change as more and more pins were given to me. I wasn’t sure what to do with them and then someone told me that I should decorate my Driver’s ID necklace thingy… ha – not sure what you call that thing!

I had received this special Royal Canadian Mounted Police pin during the opening ceremonies. There’s a few stories in that acquiring.

The next day, a Canadian Flag, Saskatchewan wheat sheaf, and Olympic Torchrunner pin were added. Now that my ID necklace was being adorned with pins, athletes would stop to see what I had collected. “Hmmm…. You don’t have a pin from _______ so here you go!” and another one would be added.

Soon, many of the drivers were growing their own collections. We all started taking this quite seriously and started trading pins – everyone wanted a pin from each of Canada’s provinces and territories.

When I saw ‘The Official Pin’ for these games I became quite excited. Having worked through this event I had to have a pin stating that these games were being held in London, Ontario. I soon was gifted this pin. I smiled.

By the end of the week, I had done the best at collecting pins from all across Canada. The only pin that I had failed to collect was one from The North West Territories. Not bad!

Not all the pins were dated for this year or even this event. Like this pin that was given to me by an athlete from British Columbia. This pin is actually from the last Olympics that happened in Vancouver during February of this year.

I regarded these pins with an artistic perspective. Each one was unique and had its own individual charm. Some were pressed metal. Some were painted glass. My eyes popped out of my head when I was given this pin – very nice!! I’m not sure how old this is, but it appears to have been made many years ago.

This pin is like tres kewl!!!! Canada Post made this to celebrate the rising costs of mailing a letter – when the price of a stamp went from 47 cents to 50 cents. The Bluenose is the name of this world famous racing boat from the 1930’s and it also graces the Canadian dime.

I nicknamed myself ‘He Who Collects Pins’ and I held my head high as everyone marveled at all the pins I had collected. By the end of the week I had collected around 50 pins!!! My necklace become the subject of a lot of attention. I had become a pin junkie!!!

Since the Olympics are now over and the athletes have all gone home, I find that I’ve been going through a bit of pin withdrawal… but don’t worry – I’m sure that I’ll get through this! I’ve had a lot of inspiration surrounding me by individuals who have ‘gotten through’ a lot more than ‘this’ in their lives and for this I am forever thankful.

Jim