Several years ago, I started saving matchbooks and matchboxes. Up until the early 1990’s they were ubiquitous – restaurants, hotels, bars, gas stations, convenience stores, etc. offered them. As the country woke up to the dangers of smoking, these give-away matches are almost non-existent today – gone the way of public telephones, LP records, cassette tapes and VHS recordings. After breaking my nasty 20-year cigarette habit in 1978, I continued to add to my collection although I haven’t added to it in years. Mine is very small potatoes compared to those of the professional collectors who periodically meet to talk about, display, swap and sell their valued pieces. Me, I just like to grab a handful and use them as remembrances of happy times and places traveled! A sampling follows…..

A couple “special ones”, although both are a bit worn and used!… Our wedding reception was at historic Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts – April 24, 1965. The pink one is from that reception and the other we picked up at the Inn when we stopped for lunch several years later.