My story--Part 3, the ongoing saga

If you're reading this and haven't read part 2, you should read that first or this might not make sense. After the big "reveal" in 2004, I could barely stand to look at my cards. I didn't want to see them, sell them or deal with them. They went into storage...outside in my shed. Not the best place for the cards, but I did have one big box in the office with all the relic and auto cards plus my Will Clark box. We moved into the house of our dreams in March of 2006. My cards went with us and stayed in the garage. They were a constant course of frustration every time my wife saw them. We're talking about somewhere between 400 and 500 THOUSAND cards! Big blue storage tubs stacked to the ceiling. We had a community wide yard sale in October of 2006 and no one showed any interest in the cards. I tried to sell the opened boxes, pretty much unsearched except for the relics/autos and serial numbered inserts. Everything else was in there--rookies, stars, HOFers. In April of 2007 we had another community wide yard sale. One man got the deal of a lifetime! I sold him nearly everything for $300. I kept the "hits", my Will Clark cards, and probably 40-50 thousand cards that I had managed to pull out. He got dozens and dozens of boxes, most still in their opened wrappers, that only had the "hits" pulled out. I guess you could say I lost a little money on the deal, but I gained the space in the garage that had been taken up by the reminders of my betrayal. My wife was happy, I was happy. Fast forward to 2008 and I buy a pack or two from the local Wally World. No big deal, I didn't feel the grip of addiction. In early 2009 I discover the amazing world of collecting and blogging. My interest became renewed, not in the hoarding, but the collecting. Sites like Night Owl and so many others showed me the joys of collecting! The history behind the cards, sometimes even the exact game in which the picture was taken, the story of the players...it is all something I missed out on before. It took me back to that first pack of 1981 Fleer I bought when I actually took time to enjoy the cards, read the backs and trade with my friends. Everything is out in the open at home too and it's ok! My 9 year old son started buying a few packs of 2009 Series Two Topps cards. He still doesn't believe that I could get nearly 10 packs in 1981 for the same price he paid for one 2009 pack. The trading with other bloggers has been the best part so far. I'm looking forward to enjoying the hobby from a collector's perspective this time around. Thanks to all of you for being a part of it.