Thanks Mom

Happy Mother's Day Sunday to all the Moms out there, and to all the sons and daughters who will be taking time out from sorting cardboard to celebrate with theirs.  And especially to the couple of you blogger guys that have had tough times with your mothers recently.  Probably not the most joyful occasion this year.

I don't want to live with my Mom any more, (was there much longer than I expected, but it did a lot of good financially), but it's probably going to be devastating to not have her around when that time eventually comes.  She's always been really supportive in everything (except maybe cards, but she doesn't say much about my collection except "What would I do with all this if something happened to you?").   My Dad's been gone for twelve years now, but still having Mom across town is a blessing.  His passing affected me a good bit, so I don't even want to think about when they're both gone.

I get the double whammy this time of year in that it's also my mother's birthday on the 10th (today).  Just got back from a nice dinner with her for the birthday part.  We'll go plant shopping over the weekend to take care of the other bit.  It's become our tradition.  Mom is always outside in the spring and fall planting, weeding, mowing, or clearing every single stick out of her 3/4 acre yard.  She's had to learn to pace herself the last few years, but is still much more active out there than a lot of women her age.  (She just passed the same milestone that Topps did in 2013.)

The one significant card I remember getting from her was the Jim Palmer 1966 rookie (the real thing, not the reprint above).  It happened Christmas of 1982.  I know this because it's documented in my "journal" from that year that I've been highlighting the card-related entries in my Collector's Log posts. 

If we could make our own 2010 insert sets, mine would look like this

But more importantly, she taught me how to manage my money, (and basically the other parts of my life) so very well that I'm now in a position to be able to enjoy this hobby without having to stretch my finances or be restricted by other obligations.  Most of the rest of my life is secure enough that I have lots of time and resources to devote to these crazy little cardboard slabs, both for me and for others.  I really like knocking off those "most wanted" cards on other blogger's lists, or finding stuff they don't have of the players they collect, especially when they don't expect it.  I heard about the generosity of blogger traders for a good while before I became one of them, and now I like to support that concept as much as I can.   That's how I try to roll, and it's because of how I was raised.

Thanks Mom!  From all of us!