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It's also my last post.

I've been thinking about this for some time, but it has become increasingly clear to me over the past year that I need to close this chapter of my collecting life.

I'm a much different person at a very different stage of my life than when I started this little venture, and I've felt myself growing more and more distant from running this blog over the last few years. New cards have come in, and it has started to feel like more of a hassle to scan and show them. This blog has always been a bit more of a show-and-tell, and I've always been fine with that. Some have a lot more to say and frown on 'show and tell', and that's all well and good. But the reason I started this blog was because I didn't really have anyone to show off my new cards and share what I got in the constant flow of bubble mailers stuffed into my Manhattan apartment's small PO box. In a sense, the blog served as critical outlet when I started collecting cards again. No longer did cards just arrive in the mail, get glanced at once, and then stored away in some box. It was a crucial step in my self-help journey to enjoy my '90s inserts just a little bit more.

Life has changed too. I started this blog four apartments ago, three jobs ago, two kids ago, one wife ago. A lot has happened to me over my eleven years on here! The most important years of my life. Marriage. Kids. Homeownership. Job switches and promotions. I was just a young pup when I started this, without obligations other than myself and with a hell of a lot less responsibility. Frankly, life is busier now, despite working 95% of the time from home. Work is more chaotic with a higher stakes role that needs more of my attention. My kids are playing multiple sports and require more rides, more practices, more games, and more of my time. And I choose them. Easy one.

Sure, lots of excuses above. One after another. But in the precious free time I have, scanning and writing a little thoughtless post about cards really isn't what I want to do. It's among the same reasons I no longer care to write TTM letters to strangers. In my free time, I'd rather spend it other ways.

I'm not giving up collecting or put off by the current state of the hobby. Far from it. And I still plan to read the blogs that I most enjoy, as well as hang around on Twitter and on TCDB.

And who knows, maybe I'll be back. Maybe I won't. Perhaps I'll drop in a post down the road if something extradorinaiy happens or if I just want to say hi. But I'm not counting on it.

The blog was a big part of my life for more than a quarter of it, which sounds weird to say. But the time has come to move on and not have the site hang over my head as something that needs to be maintained. I did it for eleven years, and I'll leave the blog turned on and active while it collects dust before Blogger decides one day to no longer keep these tiny sites running, which is bound to happen given Google's lack of investment in the product. 

Lastly, I do genuinely thank you for reading, for trading, for sending unexpected cards, for taking cards off my hands, and for making collecting far more interesting for the past eleven years. It was fun, and I hope you all continue to enjoy collecting the way you want to do it...for you, not for someone else.

As the cranky Upper East Side card shop owner told me back in May of 2011, it's time for The Lost Collector to officially get lost. 

Take care, and thanks for the ride!