Stamps for the Memories

My Jim Henson (plus Muppets) stamps arrived yesterday. They're beautiful--10 stamps on the sheet featuring different Muppets, plus one special, eleventh stamp with Jim Henson's image.

According to the Henson Company website, Henson's first show began airing on local television in Washington, D.C., 50 years ago. I can hardly believe that. I was already in fourth grade when Sesame Street began airing, so I didn't learn to read or count via Muppet, but I've been a big fan forever. I loved the Muppet Show, which managed to be funny to both children and adults--a rare feat.

But now that I have my beautiful stamps, I can't bear to use them. Jim Henson died after a brief, but virulent, illness struck him down in 1990. Rumor has it he might have been saved if he'd just taken the time to go to the doctor, but I've heard that may be an urban myth. By all accounts, he wasn't just clever and creative, but kind and humane--sort of a non-green Kermit. Even now--15 years later--it feels like a sock to the gut to think about him and his early death. I tear up at the thought.

I think I'm going to display my stamps on a bookshelf, seen but not sent. I just can't imagine putting Henson onto an envelope and launching him into the unknown. That's not how you treat friends, even the kind you never actually met.