Getting Together

Ever since I started collected model horses I've noticed that the true hallmark of the hobby is the way it connects people.

Anyone can sit at home and gather a collection, but what fun is that?  The fun is in sharing your collection, or your knowledge, or your talent, or all of those together.

I was lucky in the early days in that I was able to attend a live model horse show (an in-person gathering of collectors aimed to bring people and the best of their collections together in an atmosphere of equal parts fun and competition) almost every year.  Yes, I had to travel a bit to get to the shows I wanted to attend, but I've always loved road trips so that was no problem.  I especially like road trips with a car or van full of like-minded friends who didn't mind taking detours to haunt antique shops we spot en route and who could talk model horses all day long.

Between live shows there was also snail mail.  Before my first live show I didn't really know anyone in the hobby, but after that show I got the names and addresses of all the participants and wrote a note to each.  This started some of my best friendships and began to fill my mailbox, which previously contained mostly bills, with lovely long letters and, in time, various self-published hobby newsletters and magazines.

This used to be me. Image courtesy of tenor.com

This is how we got together back in the "old days" -- through mail and through the occasional live show.  It wasn't long before a group of us found another way to get together, with semi-regular meetings at one and other's houses to share the information we'd each acquired about where to buy model horses and what new issues might be coming along next.

And then the Internet came along.  This opened up the hobby to allow a virtual get-together of hobbyists worldwide.  Snail mail dwindled and finally trickled to a stop, save for packages containing model horses acquired through purchase or trade.  But my circle of "friends" expanded enormously, and news of new releases exploded in my Inbox.

I still love in-person get-togethers, whatever their excuse: showing, workshopping, trading, show 'n' tell, or even just good hobby gossip.  They're the cream in a collector's coffee.  But now, when I can hook-up with virtually any hobbyist any time, anywhere, I find myself addicted to all things model horse-related in our online world.

In times like these, when we've all become unwilling shut-ins waiting for the pandemic to pass, I value my Internet connections all the more.  We may be social distancing, but we are not really socially isolated.  We can still shop, and gossip, and chat, and create, and share our discoveries and accomplishments, and find comfort in our cyberspace companionship.

No, perhaps it's not as great as getting together in person, but it's so much better than it might have been had we not established all these cyber connections.

We hear a lot these days about people being so addicted to computer platforms such as Twitter and Instagram that they're losing touch with reality.  Well, we're all in touch with reality now and one of the things that's helping us face it is the ability to communicate instantly with each other provided by those platforms and others.  Snail mail remains slow, long-distance phone calls are pricey, and travel can be impossible or unaffordable for many, but computer communication is quickly becoming commonplace.

So let's get together in that common place and celebrate the fact that, despite the necessity for social distancing, we are not alone.