Klein’s Korner: Saying goodbye to an old friend – Life, as everything else, tends to take one in different directions. That was true when I writing for Sports Collectors Daily and still true today. To begin, about 6 weeks ago, our beloved Jenny spent her last day on earth. She is now waiting with her older sisters Heidi and Nala at the Rainbow Bridge and while we miss her dearly, we are also blessed she was ready for the next phase of her life. This is a photo of Jenny with her grand-mother during the final visit to the vet. Jenny and myself had talked on several occasions about going to the Rainbow bridge and she was definitely ready and willing to see her beloved older sisters. Here, she lives behind a legacy of never going for a walk she did not enjoy nor eating anything not nailed down. She also devoured a few things that were so well hidden we all forgot where the food was.
I talk about Jenny, not because both her human family and her beloved younger brother miss her but because one of my favorite web sites had its plug pulled on May 1st. A wonderful site called Reel Radio, which was a repository for old radio airchecks was taken down on that date. One of the key reasons for the site’s ending was the curator, a very devoted man named Richard Irvin, was physically unable to continue the day to day operations. Ricky had spent the last 22 years of his life devoting countless energy to that site but he never set up any sort of a succession plan for the day he would not be able to run the operation. Sadly, that day has come and Reel Radio is no more.
I bring up these because for many of us in the hobby we have (and that includes me) no real succession plan for what we do with our cards. My wife has some of my friends phone numbers and instructions to call but if I’m not here, who knows what she will do. For most of us, that is a fairly common thought about our cards because we have to remember even if we own them, the ownership is only for what might be a short time in their existence. So as approach the middle of the year holidays (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Graduation Day, etc.) it’s always good to have your next step planned. For all of us, hopefully that day will not come for a long time indeed. So make one of your goals for the rest of the year to have a game plan if you end up not being to enjoy your cards.
And on an happier subject, our Adat Chaverim show had the biggest one-day ever in March and our Labor Day weekend event will mark 5 full years since we began. Who knew what was originally designed to be a one-off show just to raise $500 and to prove to myself I could run an old-school show would continue to be so popular. We at the Adat Chaverim Brotherood thank all the customers, vendors, prize donors and especially our own volunteers, without whom we could not have those events.
Check out last month’s article HERE.
Rich’s vast experience and knowledge of the hobby has been well documented through the years. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Klein’s Korner. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
- Klein’s Korner: The World is Not Ending - December 8, 2021
- Klein’s Korner: The Hobby is Truly the People - July 12, 2021
- Klein’s Korner: Record hobby history - April 6, 2021