What hobbies have been passed down from your family?

A closet full of matchstick boxes, books filled with stamps, and shelves loaded with K-pop albums and photocards. Yep, I’m confused too. Even though you might see these three items as completely unrelated, each belongs as a prized possession to a generation of the Hashash family.

The first time I visited my grandparents in Lebanon, you can imagine my bewilderment when my grandfather immediately dragged me to a dusty old spare room in an apartment building instead of a landmark to do some sightseeing. Before swinging open the door, he puffed out his chest and told me that this would all become mine one day. As the door complained loudly on its hinges, which looked like they’d turn to dust any moment, a view rival to the Room of Hidden Things from Harry Potter was revealed. The room was the size of the first-floor hall with every nook and cranny filled with miscellaneous items I couldn’t quite make out from where I was standing. I was uninterested at first, but before I knew it, 3 hours had flown by. My mom had to practically drag me away from the stack of matchstick boxes I was meticulously sorting through.

I’d always wondered what the 12 books on the top shelf near my dad’s desk contained. I honestly never paid any special attention to them until one day I felt particularly inquisitorial while partaking in our annual spring/summer/whatever time of the year our house gets too cluttered cleaning. My dad happily showed me what lay inside those books, and it wasn’t something I would’ve expected: stamps. Stamps from almost every country on this planet, some that don’t even exist on the map today. He told me how he soaked every envelope he would get and removed the stamp from it to preserve in his stamp collecting books. I’ve carried on his hobby whenever I get the time, saving up the letter mail I receive in a big pile next to my desk and separating the stamps whenever I need a break (or a way to procrastinate) from work. I still haven’t made it through my dad’s entire collection but vow that I will… eventually.

Finally, we’ve come to me, descendant of the Hashash family, tasked with carrying on the tradition. My form of collecting goes a bit off convention, influenced by modern-day pop culture. Next to my desk you’ll find my K-pop items displayed. I only seriously collect one group, currently in possession of all their albums and photocards since before they debuted, with 3 albums signed by all the members. I’ll admit it looks a bit insane to someone not from the community, especially when flipping through my 1.5in binder filled with what looks like arbitrary pieces of thin cardboard. However, I find collecting quite fun because while I search for items, I interact with people from around the world (Hong Kong, the UK, and France for example). I do all this at my own expense of course and make a profit by reselling items because my parents would never allow this hobby if I was in a deficit. I’ve also come to own quite a few rare items, the values of which I will not disclose as I’d rather not have unwelcome visitors waltzing into my home to see my collection.

Collecting was never something that was pushed onto me nor my father and yet we both picked it up in one form or another. The only logical conclusion that I can come to is that there’s this specific strand encoded into the Hashash family DNA which predestines us to collect an item. Even though this hobby requires time and money, the gratification of finding a rare item or simply looking at my collection makes it worth it, and I can’t wait to see if anyone else in my family will start one of their own.