I don’t understand people who complain about not knowing what to do after work. For me and my kids, there’s never a shortage of ways to spend our free time. What do we do with it? First and foremost, we read—especially poetry—aloud; we selectively watch TV shows and discuss them; we visit the drama theater, the organ hall, art exhibitions, and the new displays at museums.
However, more often than not, our family gathers around one of our collections, and that’s when the magic begins. We collect everything. I inherited this passion from my father, who, despite living in a village in Poland, amassed hundreds of rare books, primarily historical ones, along with numerous encyclopedias and reference books. Unfortunately, during the war that unique library was destroyed. I revived the family tradition, and now our library boasts nearly two thousand volumes on world history and Ukraine, art, ethnography, and fiction—in many languages—along with dozens of dictionaries. From a young age, I taught my children to appreciate books and to restore them; in a way, I instilled in them a reverence for the written word. One son was responsible for keeping the library tidy, while the other handled lending books to neighbors, friends, and classmates. The more people who use our library, the greater our joy. The whole family (especially the kids) is involved in expanding the collection. We gather in the evenings, and often each of us has a new acquisition—sometimes with a hint of bragging: “I got ‘Marusya Churai’ by Lina Kostenko,” “I got ‘Selected Works’ by Vasyl Symonenko,” “I got…,” “I got…”
In addition to books, we collect reproductions of paintings, and I enlist the help of acquaintances to find them. Sometimes, to “acquire” a reproduction of a desired painting, I have to scour every kiosk and shop. Once a month we meet to organize the collection. Those meetings often turn into debates and trips to the encyclopedias. As a result, we have compiled and organized nearly all reproductions of outstanding works of Ukrainian and European painting into four large albums, categorized by country and by “school.” One particularly valuable album is dedicated to Shevchenko, featuring over six hundred portraits of the great Kobzar—artistic, graphic, sculptural, embroidered, minted, and more.
My wife, Evelina Timofeevna, a chemistry and biology teacher, took up stamp collecting and involved our eldest son, Sergey. One of the albums they created is titled “From Lily of the Valley to the Queen of Flowers, the Rose” (170 entries). Sergey started collecting New Year’s postcards and filled two albums with them. Since our family travels a lot, he always buys sets of tourist postcards wherever we go. Our youngest son, Vitaliy, took up photography. That led to the idea of a series of albums titled “Architecture of Ukraine” (“… of the Union,” “… of Europe”).
Vitaliy couldn’t resist collecting either. His passions include postage stamps, old coins and banknotes, matchbox labels, art photographs, humorous stamps, vinyl records, and cassette tapes of Ukrainian folk and pop songs.
Some might say, “But that’s just spending money!” Of course it is. But some people spend three times as much on beer. Relatives and neighbors throw away hundreds of magazines every year, and those magazines contain invaluable materials.
If someone asks, laughing, “And what do you get from those albums? What do they give you?” we get a lot. First, involving all family members in a common pursuit strengthens our bond. Second, collecting has huge educational value. For instance, anyone who creates an album on “Architecture of Ukrainian Cities” masters geography and gains at least a basic understanding of art. And what a pleasure it is to showcase your treasures to guests, relatives, and everyone who drops by for an evening get-together. Believe me: the table has long been set, the potatoes have cooled, the hostess has invited everyone to dinner multiple times, yet the guests can’t tear themselves away. Because it’s a whole amazing world. Give it a try—you won’t regret it.
