Maybe the Golden years aren't what we thought

Don't get me wrong, I'm far from my "Golden Years".  I'll only be 45 (lol...only) in a couple of months.  There are days when I feel old when I wake up, and there are others where I awaken ready to attack the day at hand. 

Most of us know this feeling however; the feeling we get when we arrive home and there are envelopes in the mailbox waiting for us.  Yes...this is 2nd to coming home to my wife, but only just...

The emotions that flood us when we get ready to open those envelopes and dig through the stacks of cards sent to us.

Speaking of E-Motion, stop on by and add yourself to the many who have already started following Tom's new blog, detailing the 1995 Skybox E-Motion set.  Tom is running a contest to promote/jump start the new blog, so go check it out....quickly!!  (This blog author received no paid compensation for the previous public service announcement...we now return you back to your regularly scheduled posting)

Then a post that I viewed Thursday morning set me afire....I saw a card I hadn't seen in maybe...30 years??
Take a look at this post from Dave over at Wax Stain Rookie to read about the card below.

Image borrowed from the Wax Stain Rookie blog.

This set, 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee, is the first set that I ever purchased packs of.  Seeing this card triggered a flood of memories, along with a purchase of a great deal of cards from this set (thank you Dave, can't wait for these to arrive!!).

I know what's going to happen when they do arrive.  I'll get that flood of emotion, the same one that I got when I opened an envelope last week and saw this card below:

I don't know what hit me.  It seemed like when I saw this card, the memories of purchasing packs at the corner store back in 1977 came racing back to me. 

The thought back then was the same as it is now, "OMG, not this guy again" as I pull Carl Morton for what seemed to be the umpteenth time.  Now, I needed him for my '77 set that I'm putting together, and it was awesome just seeing this card again.

But seeing these cards again 35 years later just fills me with a feeling that's hard to describe.  The feeling a 9 year old boy gets when he rips open a couple of wax packs looking for players from his favorite team.

Having these memories come back to me again made me think.  The Golden Years, as far as this collector is concerned, are those as a kid running down to the corner drug/convenience store and blowing their entire allowance on a couple of packs of cards, looking for that elusive card of your favorite player.

At the very least the mid to late 70's are my Golden Years.  I'll never be able to top those memories.

Thanks for reading, Robert