Outta my funk ... Thanks to Emma

So it's been quite a while since I have found time to post. Part of it was the nonstop happenings of daily life and part of it stemmed from the Red Sox unfathomable September choke job. Just the way that team died during the stretch run, left a bad taste in my mouth. Many Sox fans should have seen this coming ... maybe we did and maybe we chose to turn a blind eye. That bitterness lingered into the playoffs.

Those feelings crossed over into my card collecting. I didn't have the enthusiasm I normally do for the end of the year Topps Traded/Update/Season Highlights. No hobby boxes, blasters, or packs crossed my hands. I think I visited my LSC twice since September. The first was when the Sox STILL had a chance and picked up some Allen & Ginter minis that had been held aside and the second, I actually bought some vintage football. On that second trip, I had little interest in anything baseball.

I did manage to watch the World Series and thought games 6 and 7 were some of the best in recent memory. It was good to see two teams from America's heartland going at it instead of the Sox, Yanks, Phils .... I mean no other sport can write the fairytale ending of David Freese's walk-off home run in the 7th game of the World Series. Local kid makes good while living out all of our backyard dreams of winning it all.

While I enjoyed the Series, I just didn't have the eagerness to collect.

So last weekend, got a chance to see a bunch of cousins, including Emma (actually second cousin). She is 9 and is a HUGE, HUGE Red Sox (and baseball) fan. Emma has Neurofibromatosis (pronounced neuro-fibroma-tosis), a genetic disorder that can cause tumors to form on the nerves anywhere in or on the body at any time. She has good days and some that are tough.

Look Daddy, we made SportsCenter!

She's a sweet, beautiful girl, not to mention a trooper. One thing I did not know about Emma was her love for baseball cards too!!!! She was so excited to pulled out her album and show me her cards. She had some 2011 Topps and Opening Day including one of those Stadium Lights cards (Pedro Alvarez I believe). She was thrilled when I told her that it glows in the dark. She had quite the array of cards, some Red Sox and some Yanks too (her mother and grandparents are Yankees fans), plus a nice 1977 Topps Burger King of Reggie Jackson. I pulled up Reggie's regular issue and pointed out why they looked different. Even the adults found it interesting. But the one card that was pretty cool, was a 2011 Topps Update Micheal Stutes Printing Plate Cyan Card 1/1!!!!  I told her that no one in the world has THIS card. It is the ONLY one in the world!!! Just like you Emma, you're the only one in this world!

Emma with her brother Josh and Sox pitcher, Clay Buchholz.

So thank you Emma, you didn't know it, but your love for baseball and baseball cards got me outta my funk. When I left, I made sure to hit Target and grab a couple of packs of 2011 Topps Update. All was right with the world once more.

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Just like Bobby V, I'm back and will be righting this ship and posting more in the coming days. I got a whole bunch of cards scanning right now for trade bait purposes. Speaking of trades, Chris over at Nachos Grande, thank you for your patience, persistence, and finally getting our deal done. Your cards are in the mail and there's a couple of surprises for ya as well.