My piece last time about ex-Pavlina and ex-Johnson really struck a chord with many of you. I received more positive comments about that piece than I have regarding anything else that I’ve written about. That is good news to me. One, because I know people are reading this stuff. And two, because I think that message really hit home with so many people.

Yes, Steve Pavlina and Dave Johnson are two of the most influential people in my philatelic world. But it doesn’t stop there. I am also touched and affected by many of you, my loyal customers.

I thought about doing a piece that mentions specific customers by first name only. However, it would take a lot of space to mention everyone I want to. And I risk forgetting someone. Offending someone is not something I want to do.

I will say this though. There have been large influences in my philatelic world. Steve and Dave are two large instances. But there are many smaller, but equally important, influences in my philatelic world. That is where many of you come in.

A couple of my customers have passed away over the years. There was Fred from NC who once worked with Cloudy French on his book on plate varieties on US stamps. There was Carlton in OK who told me that his family opened the first drive in movie business. Dana in OH died too young at the age of 57. And so on.

Many of you send short notes such as, “How is the family?” or things like that. Many of you ask how I’ve been doing after my stroke three years ago in September 2009. I get other tidbits of information from many of you about your lives and family. I don’t have time to go into deep details, but I enjoy these kinds of brief interactions.

Some of the things I write about here are from conversations I’ve had with customers. You are providing the inspiration for some of this material. I thank you for that.

The saying goes, if you enjoy your job, it doesn’t feel like work. I like the stamp business because I get to do something I enjoy. And thanks to many of you, this doesn’t feel like work. Thank you for your business and friendship. I sincerely mean that.