All I can see is white, white, white, and some brown from mud on the main roads. It's probably the snowiest winter I can remember since my childhood. So I am doing my best as I type this and can see out my window to picture a shade of green and the bright sun shining upon me.
One of the things I now enjoy in the summer, when it actually arrives, was something that was a bit of a challenge to me back in the 90's and that is simply going to a beach or pool.
And that's where today's story begins.
It was the 1990's, a hot day in the summer and I was at home minding my own business and playing with my toys. I could hear a vehicle pull into our driveway and I feared who it was and what was about to happen. I peeked out the curtain slowly and saw the gray van sitting there and my mom calling my name. "Matt, Matt, Grams here. Let's go. We are heading to the Crystal Lake.”
Worst nightmare confirmed and it has nothing to do with a hockey masked machete wielding man.
You see, my other grandmother, my mom's mother, wasn't like my nice grandmother (my father’s mother) who I have spoken about on here multiple times. She wasn't even like most grandmothers who would bring you cookies and kisses like off from Spongebob. Instead, mine brought me to the lake, specifically the local one named Crystal, where her approaches to teach me swimming was something you might have seen in the 1950's or actually in a horror film.
She would drive you there, drag you out of the vehicle and just toss you in, despite you begging and pleading not to go in because you couldn’t swim. She didn't care and didn't want to hear it, she just wanted to see you move those arms and legs. When you weren't tossed in, you were put in a life vest on your back and pushed back and forth between your uncle and her with the occasional dunking of you under to try and teach you how to hold your breath. Your best way for survival from this torture was to hope that you wouldn't go on that trip because of rain or because it was fall/winter.
I had zero interest in learning how to swim and I was fine dealing with the heat and I was just fine with it being sunny,hot and sweating. I would have rather had all of my toys/cards taken away from me, burned in front of me with me being the one lighting them on fire, than take a swimming trip with her.
That's how bad it was. I referred to her as the mean grandmother to others growing up.
I dealt with this situation for years with my mean grandmother and fortunately it finally ended when she gave up going to the lake as she got older. It was the biggest relief ever. That kind of relief you get when you may have been holding it waiting to go to the little boys room and finally getting in there.
She actually as a person began to change some with her aging, and started to lighten up a little, even though she did have her mean tendencies occasionally. We had actually even started to bond some as I got older up until she passed from having multiple strokes and was pulled off from life support.
Even though she made my life miserable early on, I was still heartbroken by the loss of her.
Despite her no longer being around and hadn't been to the lake in years, my fear of water however, lived on. The only water I felt safe with was the ones I could watch on TV in movies like Jaws or in these unique insert cards from 1997-1998 Flair called Wave Of The Future.
She actually as a person began to change some with her aging, and started to lighten up a little, even though she did have her mean tendencies occasionally. We had actually even started to bond some as I got older up until she passed from having multiple strokes and was pulled off from life support.
Even though she made my life miserable early on, I was still heartbroken by the loss of her.
Despite her no longer being around and hadn't been to the lake in years, my fear of water however, lived on. The only water I felt safe with was the ones I could watch on TV in movies like Jaws or in these unique insert cards from 1997-1998 Flair called Wave Of The Future.
These inserts fell 1:20 packs and has a player appearing to be in a wave. Literally.
I tried to capture the angle of this card to show you both the liquid and the plastic coating.
The set had 12 cards featuring upcoming stars of the future of the league, but most in this set didn't get too far including Keith Booth who only made it in the league for two years. Flair had been making this series in its products for awhile, but these ones were by far the coolest of all.
I remember how exciting it was to pull one of these out of packs when I was younger when the product came out. I think it equals out to one per box so it wasn't an easy pull for those times. I can't remember who I pulled back then, but it wasn't a super star by any means and was lost over time and forgotten.
I was reminded of these cards when I found this one in my Wes mail day and would love to build the set now that I own another. Would be a unique one to have especially if these cards still have the liquid in them after all of these years as I have seen some on eBay recently that do not.
Trying to build a set based on a water theme doesn't scare me today, however, going out into a deeper part of a lake or ocean still does. I still don't care if I ever learn how to swim, but at least I am able to go to a beach, lake or even a pool and walk out to the water and be up to my waist just fine. I thank my wife for that and the confidence she gave me in doing so.
We all have our fears, mine is spiders, snakes, water and my grandmother at one point. I also fear long winters, this blog disappearing and the hobby dying some day when it comes to a bit more unrealistic ones. It doesn't matter what your fear is, it's how you deal with it. I feel like I have dealt with mine pretty well even though the bad memories do pop up occasionally like they did for this post. However, my dealing with it tries to make me focus on the good times I had with my mean grandmother such as her making me coffee (as a kid that was awesome), eggs, toast and homefries while I watched cartoons. Or when she took me to the grocery store once and let me pick out a treat. Or the time she mistakenly bought me the same figure for Christmas I already had but I kept it anyways because she tried.
Life is about making positive memories and not dwelling on the negative ones. It's something I do every day. Every negative situation has a positive to it if you look at it with the right mindset. Go out and try that for yourself today and you will live a better life.
As for my set chase of these Flair cards, as always I may need some help from trading buddies to pull it off. Got some, drop me a line and let me know! Please also send some sunshine and green grass along as well.
