How long do you keep your orchids?

[Eyebabe]

I was just checking my list of plants and noticed that all but a handful have been acquired within the last two years.
Now I have logged every plant so evidently there are roughly 100 orchids that I have either killed(that would be the phals), trashed, or given away since 2005.

Now granted, with the greenhouse project started last year my ordering of plants went from about 10-20 per year upward.
In 2005 I purchased less than 10 orchids and they are all dead now
So much for learning; but they were all mericlones and fairly inexpensive.

In 2009 I committed to virus testing plants and keeping only plants that screen negative. I lost around 40 plants if I recall correctly but it could be more. Some I had been nursing along and it became clear why I was having such issues. I have also had to throw away a handful of virus positive new plants that nurseries would not accept returned.
Yes I count those too

And when I decided to go with mostly large flowering cattleya I moved out the other stuff that I wasn't in love with anymore. Those healthy guys are either at the office or owned by friends now.
This is the point where I morphed from "hobbyist" to "collector". In looking at prices of plants, clearly the average cost of the plants I am purchasing over the last two years is 5 to 10 times what I spent in previous years per plant

So I estimate over the past 7 years that I have killed about 30+ plants from poor culture, had to dispose of about 50 due to virus positive status, and given away maybe 15-20 plants that I grew "tired of"...

The point is that I saw myself as being a bit more "loyal" to my plants than evidently I am
And as much as I love the plants I have, it feels like I have owned them much longer! I have 210 plants total and only 20 of them are more than two years old in my possession. That is about 1/4 of what I had after the virus testing purge! I feel like a cheap date

I do admit, the ones on my list that I still own from 2006-2009 are like a favorite pair of shoes though

So how many years do you on average enjoy your orchids before you pass them on to make space for something newer and more interesting?

I would be interested in hearing some other hobbyist/collectors history of their orchid plants as well.