I agree wholeheartedly about shawnna's last 
point. naked ranma cels are certainly not going 
to take care of us when we get real old, 
especially since he'll most likely just 
disintigrate and lose all his market value as is 
the nature of cels(whoops, that was cel 
blasphemy!). I hope that there is some other part 
of this mother's story that's missing, and that 
her daughter didn't need *serious* dental 
attention. it's possible it was just a cosmetic 
thing...?

unlike what japester said, sometimes when a 
collector says that a cel is never-ever-ever for 
sale, as silly as it sounds, it really won't ever 
be for sale. of course that's not to say that we 
as collectors are never allowed to change our 
minds about what stays and what goes. though I 
wouldn't go so far as to say that something is 
going to be buried with me, I also wouldn't be 
surprised if I kept some particular cels until 
they did disintigrate and fade to nothingness. I 
really do love some of them "to death," I guess. 
^_~ I've kept my true favorites in my permanent 
collection regardless of buyer's regret, fire 
sales(or in my case new apt sales), and the like. 
unless one day I desperately need money for my 
child to have her liver replaced, you won't be 
seeing *my* naked ranma on ebay. :P 

there are those who sell off their entire 
collections, yes. but in most cases they've 
simply found another lifestyle that suits them 
better - so sue them, doesn't give them a lower 
grade on their report card, hopefully they had as 
much fun as everyone else while it lasted.

to answer the main question, yes, we all take 
cels too seriously at one point or another. but 
we take different aspects seriously - some take 
the lifestyle seriously, some take the update 
chase seriously, some take their galleries 
seriously. some get so sucked into the anime they 
believe they are the 6th sailor scout. oh well, 
that's what makes life interesting. ^_^

/mina