Rubber Stamp Reminiscing

In today’s new age of media we literally have EVERYTHING at the tip of our fingers. If I am writing and can’t spell a word or need a synonym, no book work required, I just look it up on-line. If I want to try out a new style of artwork or crop a photo with a heart around it - that too is as fast as graphics editor on my computer. While I love the convenience of all this stuff, I miss a few things too.

Namely I miss my address RUBBER STAMPS. Yes I know you crafty types have moved into a whole new world with custom card-making and scrapbooking that often incorporates rubber stamp graphics. When I was young, you could buy small rubber stamp graphics kits of ‘lips’, ‘interlocked hearts’, and ‘daisies’ too. However, even now as it was then, I doubt that, it is healthy for boys to go around stamping male friend’s papers and forearms with little lip-prints and pictures of flowers.

Though large fancy graphics in rubber stamps are everywhere now, they were not so common in my youth. Most of my interactions with rubber stamps were limited to words. I had a rubber stamp that said ‘VOID’, and one that said ‘Received’. I almost always had a date stamp but strangely it never got me one date? However, the most cherished mechanical marvel was my rubber stamp which would not only stamp the date, but it would automatically number documents sequentially as well. When you held this chromed stamp-stallion in your palm, you felt as if GOD himself was clicking and clacking, moving levers and ink to produce an amazingly PERFECT imprint.

I miss my ‘name’ rubber stamp that my parents gave to me for my school work. It was required that all my work must be claimed by its maker. Since my Father was a graphics artist at the time, he presented me with a handsome rubber stamp in an italic script of around 16 points. I was so proud and excited to stamp all of my FRIEND’S homework - there was no way I wanted to take credit for MY substandard work.

As time has passed, I now rarely have need to stamp anything or anyone. I still greedily hang on to any rubber stamps from my former addresses. I don’t know why, but they still work perfectly so they must be too good to throw away right? Oh well I know I can find a good use for these things since tattoos are in fashion now. Some night when my kid is deep asleep, I’m going to sneak in and stamp her face with all the different addresses that she has lived in with colored inks. I’m sure she won’t mind, as you know it will be an ‘EASY A’ in both ‘art graphics’, AND her ‘ABNORMAL psychology’ college classes.