I’m a sucker for unique and vintage items. It’s a big reason why I wore my mother’s wedding dress, why I stick all my jewelry in an old printer’s tray, and why I think heaven is made up of rows and rows of antique stores….(did I take it too far?!)

Part of my quest is the thrill of finding a rare item. Part of it is the history. I could get lost thinking about who held this, who wore that. Sometimes, antiques are like time transporters to me. I touch them, and I think of all the people who used them – all the people who the item brought joy or sorrow or comfort to.

When I found this Public Health service button on ebay last Christmas, I knew I had to get it for the hubs. You might recall that I was so excited about it, I actually gave it to him early.

I kept this button safe for the hubs for a while. But, I’m a big fan of actually getting use out of old things, rather than putting them in a case to get dusty. So, I finally decided to act on hubs’ great idea to turn it into a pin for his white coat. That way, he can carry around the history with him, paying homage to all those who have worked toward preventing disease in the public health profession.

I did not take on the button-to-pin-conversion project myself since I didn’t want to mess it up. I went to our small town jeweler who charged $40.00 to do it. If you winced at the price like I did, I reminded myself that I gave the business to a local, family owned place. But, I think I could have shopped around a bit and gotten the same work for around $30.00.

You can adapt any button to a pin, so if you have a collection of your grandmother’s sewing buttons or your dad’s buttons from his army uniform, pick a favorite and have it changed into one. It’s a sweet and sentimental act that allows you to carry around a memory without harming the product.