I am a penny. I was forged out of zinc and copper 34 years ago. I have seen this country grow and change perhaps more than any other human alive. I have traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from New York to Los Angeles, and one time I briefly crossed over into Mexico. I have spent time in the pockets of some very influential people (or so I assume, judging by the amount of $100 bills in their pocket. Those guys are so stuck up.) I have fallen out of more pockets than I can remember, and I have spent time in the streets of some of the greatest cities of this country, as well as some of the smallest. You see things when you are lying in the street for so long. All manner of people pass you by. Sometimes, they'll look at you, bend over as if to pick you up, then change their minds at the last second. One time, I fell out of a car on a country road, next to some gorgeous mountains. The views were quite beautiful, but I was certain that I would be stuck there for the rest of my existence, slowly rusting until I was one with the Earth again. After many days, however, I was found by a hiker. He seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see him. Eventually, he left me in the Take-a-Penny, Leave-a-Penny tray at a gas station. I met another penny there who claimed that he had been to China and back. I don't know what use they would have for an American penny over there. Then again, I did meet an Italian Eurodollar in some pocket in Florida. He seemed upset that he kept getting mistaken for an American quarter. Poor guy, he probably ended up on some collector's desk, unable to be spent. Another penny in that tray claimed to have been dropped off the top of the Empire State Building. I couldn't tell if he was telling the truth, but one of his sides was slightly flatter than the others. A penny hears quite a few stories out there on the road.
For my object, I chose to bring in a toy version of a Lamborghini Miura. Most of the items that I own that really mean something to me are at home, in Georgia, and the Miura was the best thing I could find that I had here. I got it on a family trip to Italy, at a little toy store in Rome. I remember wanting to buy a toy Italian sports car while I was there, and I found the Miura, which is one of the coolest looking cars ever made. In that way, the toy Miura is a reminder of that trip. In another way, it is a reminder of home. In my room at home, I have a huge collection of toy cars, collected throughout my childhood. Literally every flat surface is covered by toy cars of every shape and size. I brought the Miura with me when I came here to make my dorm room feel a bit more like my room at home.
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