As many states as the son can obtain, is one goal. Then as many postcards as the class can gather by the deadline. 
Of Course I was in... you have Virginia covered. It was simple. You had to mail the postcard so it had the postmark from the state. You had to write at least one fact about your state on the postcard, and it had to be addressed to the student. 
Easy Peasy.. Right?So, the wife and I both looked for a week, to pick up a post card.
Two drug stores, Walmart, Two Pharmacies with hobby and notions departments. 
What the heck? No postcards. I can remember when there were postcards in rotary racks beside every cash register in every store. 10 cents to 50 cents depending on how fancy they got. Then it dawned on me... email. Email killed post cards. Hardly anyone sends postcards anymore unless your doctor or dentist is reminding you of your appointment. You'll find postcards in the Touristy areas and some folks will drop those in the mail, to rub your nose in the fact that they are there and you aren't, but ... mostly, they take selfies and send those these days.I went home and pulled out the rubbermaid tub with my old, actually developed pics that I had scanned, stored in it. There I found a stack of my postcards from the military. I popped out a card that was a souvenir, never been used, and sent that. It got me to thinking about my collections over the years. I used to collect postcards as a kid... , I collected postcards myself that were sent from all over.
My mom lost them in a move and I was devastated. I had had the cards for years. I could remember sitting on my bed in the evenings and going thru the deck, looking at each card and reliving when the card came, who sent it and the circumstances surrounding their trip when they did. I would reread the short messages they had written and try and remember what we had been doing as a family when the card had arrived. Time travel is possible, just close your eyes.
Those blank cards were special as well, because I bought those with my spending money on family trips. My sister bought candy, gone in minutes. I bought postcards, lasting memories of trips to historic sites, theme parks, or family events. The blank cards could take me back to the long car rides, the games in the car, the dinners on the road, and the family fun.
I saw a movie once, Danny Davito was in it. "Throw Mama from the Train." In the movie, he talks about "his coin collection, his coin collection." all thru the movie. When you finally see this priceless coin collection, it's a small box, and it contains a small amount of pocket change. Billy Crystal has a fit and tells him they are just coins.
"NO..." says Danny..."You don't understand."
"I got this penny when Dad and I went to the Zoo."
"This Nickle in change when we got Ice Cream.."
Davito's dad had died, the coins were his only connection, his touchstone.
Collections are more than the things in them... they are also the memories we gather as we build them.
My father is in his 80s and has been a great golfer all his life, playing well into his late 70s. He has played the AM side of ProAm Tourneys with some greats, and hit two hole in ones on a great course in Pensacola with witnesses. He has the plaques to prove it. A brain tumor and arthritis have taken that love away from him. These days he sits in HIS den, and watches golf on his 72" plasma television. Along the wall, stand six or seven golf bags, all high end and all filled with the various club sets he has used on top courses up and down the east coast.
"Your mother says I should sell my clubs." he said. "She just doesn't understand."
He points to the first bag, "That driver... I hit the sweetest drive on 14 back in 89 when playing with Bob and John..." He shows the angle of the drop with arthritic hands. He points to another bag. "That long putter over there is outlawed now, but I dropped a long putt with that thing in 93... it was Soooo slow to fall. Priceless." He makes a TOK sound with his cheek and laughs. "Son," he looks a bit sad now, "those bags contain my memories, a lifetime of accomplishment. How could I sell them?"
"I'll talk to her dad."
He still has his bags.
