My Origin Story
Before I jump into the events that occurred a few nights back I want to share my story as a OG Pokemon collector. I love to read and hear stories from others in my era (and new generations too) as it’s one of the things that makes the hobby special.
Back in early 99’ when Base Set dropped it put me at 10 going on 11. IMO it was absolutely perfect timing. I was young enough to where I wasn’t worried about “not looking cool” playing with Pokemon cards. (This later became the case in the early 2000’s which is definitely partial explanation for the major drop off in that time period which could be a thread of its own). Yet at 10, 11 years old I was old enough to have a good understanding of the value in protecting my cards.
Before Pokemon I was into baseball cards with my father. Baseball in general had been the biggest thing in my life up to that point between playing and collecting. Aside from the countless lessons I got from him on the diamond I can remember two others from the collecting side of things: 1 being card care and it’s importance and 2 being a valuable lesson that resonates with me to this day. And that lesson was shop lifting. I was right around 10 and at that point a definite rascal if you will. Well I got the bright idea to steal a Ken Griffey Jr rookie card from a LCS and sure enough I was caught. Well, the police were called and I embarrassedly was escorted home to my parents (not in cuffs at least lol). At that point the police confronted my parents and I knew I was in for it. My father never hit me but being a big, loud, angry Greek he definitely would intimate enough to get the point across. Well after the police left with an essential slap on the wrist that’s when it was time to hear it from my parents. At least that’s what I thought. But instead I got a different lesson. I mean of coarse they were not happy and definitely had some choice words to use, but ultimately he took me back to the LCS to apologize. After a genuine apology my father asked the clerk at the store how much the card was (think it was like $15 at the time) and then proceeded to purchase it for me. He then turned to me and said “next time you want something just ask”. Now, I think he and I both knew we didn’t have a lot of money and he probably realized I knew he couldn’t afford everything I wanted so I believe this is why no serious punishment proceeded. Either way it was a valuable lesson and something I remember over 25 years later. Well done dad RIP.
Fast forward to when Pokemon dropped which peaked both my father’s and I interest. I can vividly remember pestering him to go get some packs of cards and when we did it was like Christmas. Now that I’m a father myself I cherish these same moments with my daughter.
Now for what occurred the other night… I was organizing my office which included my closet. I was doing this for my eBay store and just so I could be more organized with my collection in general. And while going through my closet I stumbled across a box. And as soon I opened it I was floored. A box full of WOTC era cards! (See image). It’s apparently where I stashed a lot of my 1st edition cards lol. Not sure why they were just throw in a box but I got lucky because everything was lightly played or near mint for the exception of a few cards.
I find this particularly ironic because after years of being buried in my closet I stumbled across them the very same night I decide to take a step towards a big goal of mine. It was like an instant reward for my motivation.
Shortly after this occurred I went outside for few minutes to get some fresh air. While doing so I was just staring up into the night sky staring at the stars (don’t do this very often). And not more than 10 seconds of doing this I saw a shooting star blast by. This was the icing on the cake. I’m convinced the WOTC gods were looking after me on this evening.
