Bo Maisano & Sue McCown. Sue is among my dearest friends
and while she is worthy of my constant praise, Bo (her beau) deserves the
credit for this penny endowment.
The picture doesn’t do the 18 lbs of pennies justice. These coins have been with him, a
collection on the floor of his car, since he lived in Louisiana
before 2000. Every so often, he would throw them in a bag when he
cleaned the car. When he returned to New Orleans post Katrina, a new bag
started and as he let me know, there are lots of dirty Katrina pennies in the
midst too. Moving around all of those
years, the bag just came along for the trip, getting a little bigger year after
year. It only shrank when he would rifle through it looking for quarters for
the parking meter. Then my callout
arrived in his inbox for these little one scent wonders and he granted this
loving collection a new home.
When I think about one single penny and its seemingly
minuscule worth, I think about the bigger collection. By themselves they mean very little, but join
them with a group and their union makes something very special and unique with
beautifully woven stories. So humbled
they will be the ground floor to my first bar.
