Got buttons?

You know those extra buttons that clothing manufacturers so thoughtfully include with the garments they sell? Does anyone ever use those buttons? I have faithfully saved every button that came with every shirt, skirt, dress, or pair of pants I've ever bought, and I have never, ever used any of them. I have buttons dating from clothes I wore when I used my babysitting money to buy them, clothes that long ago went into the donation bag. I feel guilty for having given away clothes without also including the extra buttons. Like giving your sandwich to someone who is hungry but keeping the cookies for yourself.

Every time I've moved, I have studied my burgeoning button collection, wondering if it is worth taking along some 300-odd buttons that I have never used. But I dare not get rid of them, for then I'd be sure to lose 6 buttons off a shirt in one day. Keeping a button collection is like keeping an umbrella in your car: As long as it is there, it will never rain while you are out driving, but if you once forget and leave it in the house, it will rain like Noah ain't never seen.

The ironic thing is that if I ever did need an extra button, the one I needed would be sure to come up missing. I would pour out the whole collection on my kitchen table, or the bed, and frantically comb through it for, say, a largish black button with four holes. And what I would find would be 17 silver buttons with fancy little edges, or one bright red square button, or 5 lion's-head buttons, but no largish black button with four holes. And then what would I do?

I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd ask my mom if I could look through her button collection. With over 7 decades' worth of buttons, she would be bound to have what I need.