Ode to the Dollar Coin

Due to a recent horrific travel experience involving bad weather, missed connections, and fellow passengers who turned out to have bad visas, I was forced to buy a granola bar from a vending machine with a $5 bill. When I scooped the change out of the return slot, I discovered four fat little president dollar coins. These dollar coins are the most adorable money ever. They look a lot like tokens for the San Francisco trolley. They're heavy, large, and golden colored, with a satisfyingly thick ridge around the edge.

I love these little guys because they hearken back to the Olden Days when you could actually buy stuff with coins. One of these days I'm going to walk into a drug store and buy a stick of gum, and when the cashier asks for my money, I will say, "Oh, yeah, I've got this" and plonk that sucker down on the counter. I don't even like gum. And they're gold-colored, which money hasn't been for quite some time now.

I also discovered that they don't fit inside the coin slot in airport pay phones.

So, clunky, cute, and of somewhat limited usefulness. Kind of like: