The card that I'd love to get back...

This is a story.  It's a true story.  It's a sad story - full of emotion, the highs and lows of life....

OK.  Maybe that's a bit over the top.  But this is a true story.  And it's worth telling right now, just days before the Steelers go to the Super Bowl.

Back in 2004, early 2004, I was a young man.  I had no wife, no kids and no responsibility to anybody in the world.  It's hard to think that that was 7 years ago.  I had a crappy job at a local Target in Montana, and I made no money at being a cashier.  And what little money I did make I spent at the local card shop.

My time at that local card shop was full of firsts for me.  I busted my first hobby box there, a box of 03 Bowman football.  I pulled my first ever relic card there, a Robin Yount bat card numbered /35 from Diamond Kings.  I remember that as if it was yesterday, I even bought a hard case to put it in.  I treated it like gold.

I bought a ton of Topps Chrome basketball from Lebron's rookie season.  Not only did I pull a Lebron rookie, but I had the whole gambit from Wade to Darko and all others.  I ended up selling the Lebron back to the card shop owner to raise some funds to get the hell out of Montana.

And I also bought a lot of 04 Press Pass football that year.  Everything I did was about the Press Pass football set.  And I pulled a Ben Roethlisberger red ink auto (more rare) /100.  I actually pulled for myself, from a pack, the RC auto from my team's new QB.  Now this card you see above isn't the card that I had, it's part of an auction I found on ebay.

That card also got put into an air-tight screw down case.  I didn't sell that card to raise money to leave Montana.  I kept that card close - strangely close at times.  I had that screw down case in my pocket like it was a cell phone.  And I brought that card with me when I came out to Oregon.

Life in Oregon started pretty quickly for me.  All of a sudden I went from a single man with no cares in the world to a married man with kids.  And then the craziest thing happened.  The Steelers won the Super Bowl!  It was the first time in my life that I'd seen my team win the big game.  And the fact that it came against the Seahawks (a local favorite) made it a bit more fun.

And there was my card.  Now my card had worth!  The youngest QB to ever win the Super Bowl!  And I had his rookie card with an on-card auto! 

And then disaster struck.  Big Ben was a Big Ass and went and wrecked his motorcycle.  We thought he might die.  Few thought that he'd play ball like he had before.  But I still had my card.  Even if the value went down, it still meant something to me.  It was a card that I'd give to my kids someday I told myself.  I pictured myself telling the story of how I watched my Steelers win their first Super Bowl in my lifetime.  And I'd pull the card out and let them see a 'vintage' auto of the QB that made it all happen. 

But then life happened.  Life....  All of a sudden, I woke up and realized that this young family I'd created for myself really needed me to provide....all the time.  I didn't get a day off from family.  My kids didn't let me take the weekend off.  And I had the crappiest job.  Hard work, dirty, dangerous work - all at $8 /hour.  And after rent and bills, food was still needed. 

In that moment, I went to my treasure trove, found my few cards that I'd traveled with and had to make a hard choice.  Either the cards, or food for the family.  I really didn't think twice.  I'd keep the cards and scrape together some coin for Top Ramen. 

I kid, I kid.

I found the nearest card shop and tried to sell my wares.  All in all, I think I walked out of the card shop with about $40 from various cards that I had - but I still had my Big Ben auto.  The shop owner didn't want it!  He told me that Ben wouldn't be worth a dime after the bike crash.  He bought my RC's I had, but left me the Big Ben.  I wonder if he thinks about that day.  Either way, he let me walk.

Desperate, I went to work and found a buddy who knew how to use ebay (at the time I had no idea how it all worked).  I gave him my card to sell.  But before I ever saw any of that money, I found a new opportunity at a different job, and left immediately to work elsewhere.  I lost touch with my buddy, never saw him again.

After all of that, I gave away my most prized card for nothing.  Not one dollar did I make from that card.  My favorite card I'd ever owned, I gave away for free.  Would I do it all over again?  Of course I would.  If my children were hungry and the only currency I had was sports cards, I'd cash them in in a heartbeat.  But this card is up for auction right now, you can find it here.  As you can see, if I ever want to get that card again, it's going to cost me.  But that card represents a greater lesson learned for me, I had my priorities straight.  Finally, I started to make the right decisions.  If nothing else, I'd want the card back for that reason alone - for what it taught me about myself.

Oh, the story gets better of course.  Nobody works the crappy jobs forever.  Life keeps getting better each year that goes by.  And I can only hope for more of the same.