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Written by Craig Slater
If you think being stuck in a house during this isolation phenomenon is challenging, try being confined to a box in a clothes closet.
That’s no way to live. It’s inhumane. It’s certainly not how you treat the ones you love most.
Yes, I broke the physical distancing guidelines set in place by government. But my guilt was eating at me. I had no choice but to spend time this past weekend with several thousand of my most cherished friends.
My baseball cards are my most prized investment, taking the place of a house, a vehicle or a post-secondary education.
Several thousand cards from the 1970s to present day fill dozens of long, rectangular boxes stacked Tetris-style in one of my closets. In fact, the entire space is dedicated to my cards.
Over the past few weeks, this bevy of alone time allowed me the opportunity to give life to my duplicate cards. I separated a few hundred of my favourites from the starters and constructed a collage that covers roughly 30 square feet of wall space in a spare bedroom.
If my high school arts teacher could see me now.
My weekly allowance dollars from my childhood were well spent. At least I think so. My parents didn’t agree, to put it mildly.
There is no greater feeling than the anticipation you feel when you open each pack. This hobby occupied countless hours during my pre-teen and teen years. That same grin I had back then still is with me today when I thumb through those cards to check my inventory.
I guess you could say I’ve done a lot of reading (of the backs of these cards) during this self-isolation period.
The latest fad series on Netflix grips some who are involuntarily loitering at home these days. Television reruns and Instagram stories are popular too. But for me, I have never relied on technology for entertainment.
I thank my childhood for that. When I wasn’t playing with my friends in the park, we were swapping cards to complete our sets. Besides, the eight-inch black and white TV with three channels didn’t offer much excitement anyway.
Thankfully, a person doesn’t need the company of others to relive the dozens of youthful memories created by these baseball cards.
When this health crisis is over and life returns to some sense of normalcy, I can proudly admire my first home renovation project, as childish as it may seem.
