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Do you have one?

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Have what, you could ask?

An, I love me wall, do you have one?

First, what is a I love me wall? It’s that one wall in your house with all your awards, photos, and or things that you feel belong there. Hey Paul, is this a military thing? That answer is no, unless you were in the military, then it is. If you were not then it’s related to your career or hobbies. A fisherman would have stuffed fish hanging on the wall, or if a hunter, it could be stuffed game on display. It’s to show visitors who you are and what you did in your past life or even now.

I had a friend who had beer cans from around the world on display, why didn’t I think of that? I’ve been to houses that had pictures of cars that they had owned, and airplanes, and boats, both power or sail. It could be almost anything. Some I’ve found to be fascinating, and some not quite so much.

I have one; my stuff on my “I LOVE ME WALL” was in a stowage locker in Clearwater Florida for over twenty years, collecting dust. After I build my wife’s house here in Bataan, I flew to Florida and packed it up and sent it LBC to my wife. About 6 boxes showed up and she wondered what all that junk was? I was smart enough to hit a mall and pack one box with goodies for her and our two girls, insuring peace and harmony in the home.

First was a box full of Navy memorabilia, such as picture of me when I was on active duty, Military awards, and plaques from some of my duty stations. Plus around a hundred Zippo lighters I’d collected over the past forty years. Least I not forget the box of coins I’ve collect from all points on the compass. Other Items were pictures of every ship I’ve sailed on, and my Shadow box from the Navy, that I received upon retirement.

There was all this junk was taking up space in my wife’s brand new home. She took the ships pictures and had them laminated on wood, by a woodworker in town. Next she had a display case built out of Nara wood with a glass door to hold my Zippo’s. Then had all the coins laminated on to a large piece of wood and framed it. (She still had coins left over) and a shelf built for my Shadow Box. While I was at sea on my last ship she had it all mounted on a hallway wall. If left up to me, it would still be in boxes out in the storage house.

Well we’re back to the original question, do you have one? I’ve admitted that I do, and I’ll take any grief, you want to heap on me. I can handle it; it would be like throwing spitball at a Battleship. But I’d really like to hear about the one you’ve got.

Fess up folks!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Paul
    NO I don’t have one and I will admit I am a bit envious of those who have taken the effort to keep such stuff.
    In hindsight I wish I did save some items as reminders of my time in the USMC besides a DD214,Pictures,Scars, Drunken Memories and Tattoos. Oh well whats done is done.

    “Patriotism is the last Refuge to which a Scoundrel Clings”

    Im sure you know who sings them lyrics.

    • Hi Neal;
      Those drunken’ memories you mentioned, I lack a lot of those, not that I didn’t have a cocktail or two, some I just didn’t remember. As I told my Commanding Officer during an Article 96, “Sir; if I don’t remember it, than it could not have happened!” Lost a stripe anyway.

            • JoT “C” here again – Came across another name with whom you may associate the song “Sweetheart Like You” – a track on both his albums “Best Ballads” and “A Spanner In The Works.”

              I talkin’ Rod Stewart. He’d be the one you most likely heard.

              • Hi JoT Master Paul;
                Where would we be without access to JoT? Rod Stewart and Bob Dylan, I know I’ve heard them both utter that quote, but it had slipped my old tired mind. BTW I just added “JoT” to my spell-check, and recommend others do likewise.

              • Paut T
                Your aA Dylan fan too, don”t say I let the cat out of the bag.
                “Sometimes Satan Comes as a Man of Peace”

  2. Hi Paul – I must admit that I packed my “I Love Me Wall” up and it is sitting somewhere (hopefully) in my son’s house back in the land of the big PX. Not only military stuff complete with shadowbox, but also a lot of CPA stuff and other lovables. Maybe someday I’ll LBC them over.

    All I need for my current “I Love Me Wall” is my monthly retirement pay and other pensions! 😆

    • Hi Paul;
      I know what you mean; my collection used to be in the cellar of my Dad’s house until he passed, and the house was being sold, I flew in from somewhere and moved it to Florida, where the new dust was added. Both my boys in the states are U.S. Army and move every three years, so I didn’t dump it on them. I noticed that all my family here spend a long time looking at it each time they visit.

  3. interesting Paul, being a newly wed (two years only) we have a “us” wall in our bedroom, basically pictures of places we have been along with other family pictures, i wouldn’t mind having a wall for myself i have a large collection of model cars that i have built or bought through the years too but my wall is in my garage and it hold a crap load of tools 😉

    • Hi Tommy;
      I wall, an us wall, you still get the point; in some form or other we’re all collectors. Someday I hope you make the time to get your collection of cars up on a wall. It sounds interesting.

    • Tommy
      So your a Car Guy, a Man after my own heart.
      My garage full of tools,welding equipment,Harley Parts, VW Dunne Buggy parts, etc. My Garage is my wall of shame.

      Do you have any Car/Jeepney/Trike projects there in Phil, did you bring your tools with you when you relocated to RP, do you still have project cars?
      Im asking alot of questions because when I move to RP I will have to bring all my tools with me as I would go nuts not having something to work on.

      • Hi Neal look in the photo gallery ! I started racing cars when i was 15 became involved with some high profile racers (Tony Christian,Bill Glidden,Randy Adler) and to this day am involved in a lesser role however, I didn’t bring my tools as my mac box is about 8 feet wide by four feet deep and 5 feet high and i have 3 of them I left my cars there as well 08 challanger srt 70 cuda, 69 yenko camaro etc. I have begun a tricycle build that has at best become a five year project although i could probably finish it in a week there are plenty of places to get tools here 🙂

        • Tommy
          I looked in the gallery and saw nice wedding pics but no cars.
          Sounds like you have some sweet big $ cars. I had a “Cuda” about 30 years ago it only had a 318 in it but that car was sweet.
          Funny you should mention a 1969 Camaro as I just painted my last Harley that 1969 GM Orange color, that was the most expensive paint I ever had to buy.

          The Trike is a good project, I could see myself riding around over there on a Hellacious Trike.

  4. Hello Paul,

    I had one – has been in boxes since my final Army tour in 1986. I believe that the “wall” will stay boxed away until I move, or rummaged through upon my passing.

    regards

    Harvey

    • Hello Harvey;
      If I’d not moved here it would have been the same for my “wall”, as it had always been in boxes vise mounted. If not for my wife it would be in boxes here also. After I pass I explained to her that the only thing she should be concerned about is the 100 or so Zippo collection, as most are rare and of some value. I told my daughter to sell them on e-bay after I’m taking my dirt nap. I have a list of each lighter and it’s approximate value that should help her. I have two Career Army sons, and they both have “The Wall!”

  5. I don’t have one per say. All that military crap is in a box in my parents basement. My favorite wall is the one with my big screen tv and PS3.

    Matt

  6. On my office wall at work I have a mini-I love me wall which is enough:

    undergrad and grad degree

    aubrey newman award for outstanding mentorship (for junior officers)

    canon trophy for winning 3 corps cook of year

    case with CW3 coin and a multitude of coins presented by commanders

    certificate given by will rogers foundation for biggest audience collection back when I managed a cinema.

    specialized certificates from my current job as a contract manager.

  7. Paul:

    Ex wife got most of that stuff…Through my travels I accumulated quite a few knick nacks and other things. Sort of a shame, really, but nothing I lose sleep over (The Indonesian penis armor was quite a loss, though, and I haven’t been back to that part of Indonesia since then… My junk is now unprotected!)

    I still have a storage locker in LA with a bunch of junk in it… I may send it over or just simply get rid of it.

    • Hi John;
      The Ex-wife’s are a major cause of lack of “Wall”, as I’m missing pieces that went that same way also. As I reflect back I’m thinking, “It was worth losing the stuff, to also lose her!”

  8. Reminds me of my room… all four corners of my wall back in South Carolina. I guess i’ll tell what it looked like 😀
    On the left I had Two lil’ western cowboy thingies hanging above there door… the farther down the wall was a Japanese fabric paiting, a flag and a scroll I got from Dominican Republic, my Christian Learning Center middle school certificates, and a nascar Earnhart frame thing my uncle gave me a long time ago. On the front side I had a promo poster of me and some girl that was in a school play… and a cowboy hat, Carribean straw hat, and a sunbrellow (with maracas) hanging above that. On the left I had a painiting of a Cherokee Native, Horse shows nailed up the wall, and a deer skull with horns that I found in the woods nailed to the wall, and Pokemon scrolls. The the side where my bed was has a big Pokemon poster. On my dest I kept a cross on it, my yearbook, collection of coins, Asian and Spanish language books, and a giant photo with display of my 1st year highschool ribbons from AFJROTC.
    I guess a teen’s room is a giant I love me wall? hahaha

    • Jawz;
      Can you imagine how big your wall will grow as you get older? Use your youth wisely, on planning your future so you will have that big house with many walls to fill. Oh, and marry a very understanding person.

  9. Yes I have a wall
    Women sometimes have walls too
    I have my military awards
    My Dental awards
    Course grad certificates
    etc etc
    This wall is in my den. From time to time I look at them all and realize how hard I worked to get them.
    It is my way of patting myself on the back for many jobs well done!!!

    • Hi Tyleen;
      Of course woman have “I love me Walls”, everyone has one, in one form or another! There is nothing wrong with a little pride in one’s accomplishments

  10. hello paul, i always enjoy reading your column,i am liveing in ozamis in mindanao at this time ,but have no wall here. all my things are in storage in michigan. but i once had am wall and am wall and am wall etc. i got so out of control i had to build am new building 30 by 60 to store all my goods,i collected everthing,yes zippo’s also but i rememember they were hard to come by . to shorten this story i opened am collectable store after while ,but sense had got divorse and got rid of most,but still have storage full of things i could not part with.i have am large collection of schitz beer items i am sure you would like . have you ever drank schitz’s .oh maybe not you just am young buck…..ha ha later franklin swadling ozamis

    • Hello Franklin;
      First I’m pleased I can cause you a smile. Yours was the best reply I’ve heard, had a “Wall”, kept adding to the “Wall” and then made a business of it. Fantastic!
      My Zippo collection in well over 100 lighters, 25 or so I bought here over the last 20 years from venders, who buy them from families of passed away U.S. retired military. For some reason it galls me to see them sold on the street like that. But I understand the economics behind it. There are also a lot of imitations around, but I know how to tell them from the real ones.
      As to Schlitz beer, “The beer that made Milwaukee famous, and half of New York drunk!” Or something like that. (LOL) But yes I have had quite a few bottles of Schlitz light larger. It was also the number one seller in Puerto Rico during the 1980’s, I sold quite a lot of it also.

  11. I wish I’d been more sentimental in my younger years! My wife seems to have kept momentos from every significant, and insignificant, event in her life, but I had some silly “life philosophy” of such ideals being materialistic! As a result, reminders of memorable events have been lost or tossed out. How very foolish of me because, in life, there are rarely opportunities for re-do’s!
    Mike

    • Hi Mike;
      You’re so right about no re-do’s, unless you’re like Mr. Peabody and Sherman and have “A-Way-Back-Machine” (Rocky & Bullwinkle Show, for you very young readers.) As a few people commented, there are many reasons why they have large gaps in their “Wall”. A couple of spiteful ex-wife’s caused me to be missing some of my old stuff. If not for my Dad, who stored anything I ever gave him, I’d have a lot less on mine. Take heart Mike, it’s never too late to start putting yours back together. As you said, “You can’t go back.” But you may always start fresh.

  12. Hey Paul
    Do you have included on your wall a patch of “missions over shit river”
    Or a “I Suck Balut” T shirt. Talk about a trip in the way back machine.

    • Hi Neal;
      In the new Olongapo, it’s referred to as “The Highly Polluted Tourist Water Way”. And the T-shirts now say, “Balut, the National Delicately Try it,you’ll gag”. It’s a brave new world here and we’re politically correct now. Sometimes I wish I could find the keys to The Way-Back-Machine!
      Neal, why is Rhode Island called an Island when everybody knows it’s not? A clear case of False Advertising.

      • Paul
        Good question and here is my logical theory.
        When the pilgrim or who ever landed and discovered it they probably landed on Newport(a actual Island)and called it Rhode Island then they seen the rest of the surrounding land and called it Providence Plantation, therefore the proper and official name is:
        “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations”
        That is my guess and you are probably sorry you asked.

        • Hi Neil;
          Pilgrims’ landing on Newport, and got confused? Founded a Naval Base and thought they were on an Island. Went to the Newport Creamery and invented the Awful-Awful, then drove up Plymouth, to eat Thanksgiving Dinner. History is a wonderful thing. (LOL) BTW, I liked your answer.

  13. I have started one, first with things from the UK that have something to do with my travels there and more recently things I have framed concerning my introduction to, and visits to The Philippines. It’s not that many people view these things, some of the items to me are just too good to be stuffed into a filing cabinet or a desk drawer. Pleasant memories at a glance. Now to bring it into the digital age, I have recently purchased one of those electronic digital picture frames. Havn’t done anything with that yet. That will be the next addition.

    • Hi Bob;
      The digital picture frame is a great idea. And I especially liked your comment “Memories at a glance” I’d not thought of it like that, but that was spot on! When I visit a friend’s house and they have a “Wall”, I take pleasure in viewing and talking about it, you will learn a little more each time about that friend.