The Helpful Dumbness of What We Do

It’s been one of those damn weeks, you know?

As I mentioned on Twitter, we had to put one of our pet rats down on Wednesday. Idgie had been sick for a while and was doing pretty well right up until the end. She was two and half years, which is pretty old for rats. She had a very good life and we will miss her very much.

Then, on Thursday, we got some very bad health news about a very dear family member. I won’t bother with the details, but the past few days habeen sad and stressful, lots of time on the road and in the hospital. Gloomy shit, heavy shit.

But, as they say, life goes on. Stuff both big and little. And in times like this, nothing feels littler than a hobby. It feels dumb and empty. I got home to cards and related stuff spread out all over, just as I’d left them. I’d like to get back to it, but it feels silly and a little disrespectful of the situation.

But hopefully, in proper doses, it will be ok. Hey, looky here…

… that’s a 2010 Topps Team Set Gregg Zaun I found in my mail box when I got home today. I got the whole set, actually, as this card is impossible to find on its own. This one, paired with the 1970 Topps Gordy Lund that should come next week will leave me just THREE cards shy of a complete all-time Brewers set. JUST THREE CARDS! It was nice to look at and think about for a while.

And in that picture there, that’s the 1997 Topps set I got for just three bucks at Goodwill that I was in the process of paging when I got called out of town... left on the guest bed like it was part of a crime scene. Maybe I’ll finished that tonight, since I’m too tired to do anything else. Or those 1985 cards in that box. I picked those up, with a 1986 set and an awesome stack of Brewers from ARPSmith of Sportscard Obsession from his recent Craigslist haul. I could get those in a box and ready for whenever I get some more pages.

So I’ll do something little and dumb and meaningless tonight. That stuff helps sometimes, you know?