As part of my husbandly duties on Mother’s day, I did some cleaning and came across my pin collection. Yes, I went through a phase (that’s apparently over – keep reading for details) where I would collect pins from the places I traveled to. I kept them in a little tin that I hadn’t seen in years until today. I had my camera out so I thought I’d show a picture and let them tell my story (or the part of it that can be expressed through pins).

Explanation after the jump:

Top Row (all rows are from left to right):

• Hard Rock Cafe Stockholm – souvenir from when I lived there (’00-’01)
• Epcot Living Seas – home for the summer in ’02
• Seattle – got on Microsoft Intern interview trip (spring ’03 – no hire)
• Islands of Adventure – more Florida trips
• Epcot World Flags – ditto

Second row:

• “Jag talar svenska” – interpreter pins sold in Utah for the 2002 Winter Olympics
• Snowboarder – also 2002 Winter Olympics (I was going to school at BYU at the time
• Swedish/American flags – from my time in Sweden, ’99-’01
• American flag – don’t even need a reason for this 🙂
• Shamrock – tired of getting pinched on St. Patty’s
• Raccoon – got while volunteering at Odyssey of the Mind in Tampa

Third row:

• Stockholm city hall – lived in Stockholm 10/00-10/01
• HIF (Helsingborgs Idrotts Forening) – the shield for the championship football (that’s soccer to you Yanks) team in Helsingborg, Sweden, where I lived from 11/99-5/00
• Shield w/keys – shield for the town of Lulea, Sweden, where I lived from 5/00-7/00
• Sverige (Sweden)
• Stockholm
• Question mark – ? not sure
• Moroni – one symbol in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Seagull – state bird of Utah
• Dolphin – another Odyssey of the Mind

Fourth row:

• Mermaid from Copenhagen (blurry) – I visited Copenhagen before I left Sweden in 10/01
• Moose in Finland – I lived in Jakobstad/Pietarsaari, Finland from 7/00-10/00
• Helsinki Cathedral – I got to visit Helsinki (for a couple hours) when I was in Finland
• IB – I was in the International Baccalaureate program in high school
• Stitch playing ukulele – Disney trips, plus I went through a serious Hawai’ian/Polynesian phase
• Guy with sword – Renaissance fair
• Dragon – ibid
• Flamingo referee – another Odyssey of the Mind

Bottom row:

• Cubs jersey – got when visiting Chicago in 10/03 to scout graduate schools
• Red Sox – got visiting my cousins in Boston in 8/99
• UF Gators – got when visiting a friend at UF in summer ’99
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers – got while riding the bandwagon during the Alstott/Sapp/Dunn years
• “Lighting the Way” – gift for donating to BYU’s annual fundraiser
• Moab, Utah – took a trip there with my wife and mom in summer ’04
• Dead Horse Point – ibid
• Cougar Y – I’m a BYU alumnus

So there you have it – an abridged history of my life from the mid 90’s through 2004. Clearly I stopped with the pins since there is nothing (except the Cubs) from Chicago, and I’ve lived here for almost four years.

Do you have any quirky collections that tell your life history?