My boss let me leave a whole hour early yesterday, so I decided to clean up my office a little bit and get ahead of scanning some cardboard. In the process of doing so, I then moved to my master bedroom closet. In a tub full of stuff from when I was a kid, I came across a card that made me think of my dad.
Some of the people that read this blog commend me on my memory as a child, and how some of those memories relate to cardboard. Well, when I was little, cardboard was a big part of my life. It’s how I learned to read, I would draw some of my cards, and it’s also how I made a lot of my friends in elementary school on into middle school when we would trade at lunch.
This memory of mine in particular was on a Sunday night and I had just lost one of my front teeth (which is another reason why it stuck out to me). My mom and dad realized that we were out of milk, and with our neighborhood FoodLand having Sunday hours where it closed at 6PM, my dad would have to venture out to a little general store about 7 miles away. Usually when my dad went to this store, he would take my brother and I. My brother and I would try to score those styrofoam mini-airplanes, or some sort of candy. I always loved coming home with candy cigarettes, those dumb planes, or even a pack of baseball cards. During this trip though, I asked my dad if he would buy me a pack of football cards. This would actually be my first ever pack of football cards.
The pack my dad bought was a 1988 Topps pack. When I got home, I remember I opened it at my kitchen table with my dad. After flipping through a few cards, we came across one and my dad said, “That’s a good one! You better hold onto that one!”
1988 Topps Super Rookie Brian Bosworth #144
So, I did just that. Through all my moves, selling off my collection in 2003-2005, and giving away a bunch of cards to some kids less fortunate, I still hung onto this card knowing it wasn’t worth much. We all know "The Boz" didn't end up with the greatest football career ever, but it is still a good memento from my childhood. Here ya go dad. If you ever read my dumb blog, you will know I kept this thing.
Have you ever held onto a card because your parents told you to?
Thanks for reading.
