We were lucky enough to meet one of the greatest artists of the 70's and 80's, Peter Max.  He not only signed a Heart Pez, but drew a picture on the backside, making it an original Max drawing.

Lori and I have been married now for over 30 years.  Before we meet I knew about Pez but never collected them, or really anything else.

Lori had a couple of Garfield dispensers, but was not what we now call a PezHead.  Lori seems to remember watching a movie or tv show and saw a couple of Pez dispensers on a desk.  She thought this was cool and wanted to see which ones she could find to put on her work desk.

One of our favorite pasttimes was visiting one of the local (Colorado Springs and Denver)  flea markets.  We weren't actively looking for Pez,  just seeing what strange items we could find and take home.

I really don't remember when we started looking for older, vintage,  dispensers but did find several in Denver at various antique and collectible stores.

Then we both joined what was then called a Yahoo Pezhead group on  the internet.  This group was all text, with no pictures.  I don't remember how many people were on this group but no where near as many are on the various facebook pages.

Then somehow we found out about a Pez convention being held in Long Beach, CA.  We didn't sign up or take any to sell.  We just wanted to see what Pez where being sold there.  I was floored with some of the prices being asked.  I never thought I'd pay more than a few dollars for one much less a couple of hundred or thousand for just one.  I guess you might say that was when we jumped down the "rabbit hole" and started looking for more and more unique dispensers and cards.  

I remember one store in Denver that had lots of vintage Pez dispensers for sale.  Supposedly a collector in Denver brought in his entire collection and sold them to the store owner to resell.  The one that stands out was the Doctor.  They were asking around $100 for it.  I never thought I'd think that was a good price or if I'd ever pay that much for one.

I don't remember buying anything at the first Pezcific convention but I'm sure I bought some commons.

The next Pezific convention we went to had moved to Los Angeles.  This is where actually registered and made some life long friends.  Tina Gunsauls was just one.  We have kept in contact with her and several others.  We have been honored to meet more Pezheads at several of her "famous" home gatherings, enjoying her and her families hospitality.  I remember the time during an auction being held for Ronald McDonald House the two of us got into a bidding war for a dispenser.  She finally stopped bidding on it and let me win.  Thats when  we became lifetime friends.  We were actually sitting next to each other during this auction.  After the bidding stopped her daughter asked me if I knew who she was.  I had to say no.

After attending Pezific a couple of times we decided to take a road trip to Cleveland to Pezamania.  I never knew there were this many Pez collectors.    We had a blast there and picked up several "vintage" dispensers.

We have also had the opportunity to attend the NE Pez convention and visiting the Pez Visitors center and putting a face to many Pezheads we have texted throughout the years.

Now thanks to Facebooks many pages our collection has grown from a couple of Garfields to something around 3500 dispensers.  I'm somewhat into what are called fantasy dispensers and "test" or "backdoor" dispensers.

I try and join both the Zoom calls each week, but don't stay on until the wee hours like some do.