Friendships Like No Other

*breakfast in hand, coffee smells heavenly and now ready to roll for another new post on Cards Over Coffee*

There are many levels of friendships.

Friendships can be actual friends. The ones you hang out still and do fun things with.

Friendships can be that one and only good friend that never leaves your side and always has your back.

Friendships can be that long distance friend you have known since the dawn of time that checks in on you, but you never actually hangs out like you used to or at all. Yes Brian, if you are reading this, I am talking about you.

Friendships can be religious like the one you have with God or the one you have with fellow believers. Or both.

Friendships can be that deep relationship you have with your spouse. An unbreakable friendship and top level best friend you can always rely on.

Friendships can be different as an adult vs a child. An adult tends to lose most if not all of their friends over time especially if they lose things in common, have grown up to be adults vs their friends or have started a family. As a child, your friends are your crew always by your side unless you take their package of Gushers. Who does that?

 

Friendships can be between you, a cup of coffee and some warm Toaster Strudel. And yes, this is what just came out of the toaster.

Friendships can be whatever you make them out to be. But, one friendship I haven't mentioned yet, are the kind you make in the hobby. Those friends are like no other.

*takes a bite of strudel, sip of coffee and gets back to typing*

Hobby friendships are the best. At least to me. I don't have any friends locally other than Brian I mentioned who lives hours away in another state. And we haven't seen each other in two years but text on a regular basis, mainly about sports or Madden.

So a lot of my friendships have been built in the hobby and especially on Twitter.

I have a long list of friends there and some in a tighter circle than others. These are guys who I bounce ideas off from, rely on for help and I know they do the same back to me. We all check in on each other, root each other on and make sure during these tough times that we stay head above water. These are guys I will never meet in my lifetime, but felt like I have known for a lifetime.

And some of the hobby friendships you haven't even begun to build yet, but yet they still care.

I have known Ben over at Midwest Box Breaks now for a little over a year. He knows how much of a Rodney Hampton collector I am so when he saw an autograph helmet pop up on Twitter for sale, he tagged me immediately. Only problem was, my hobby funds have gone out the wall this year. Between doing a Re-Fi on my house (which had added expenses as I had to fix some things up) and car repairs that came close to $1,000, last thing I could do was buy a Rodney Hampton autograph helmet.

So I explained my situation and Ben continued to try and help by offering to go half. Even still at that point, I couldn't imagine paying even half knowing I had groceries and gas to get still. Within a few minutes, Ben offered to pay for it all without even thinking twice about it. That's the kind of person he is. I was blown away to say the least. Then another guy who I haven't had any interactions with decided instead he would pay for the second half of the helmet. Who does that? I haven't had one interaction or even followed in @ecb1127. Hobby friendships run deep my friends and they can grow fast.

*takes another bite of strudel, the frosting runs off onto the table and considers licking it up but doesn't. Takes a sip of coffee, smiles, holds back a tear, and continues on.*

The helmet arrived quickly compared to most mail heading my way nowadays, well fun mail, bills seem to come daily.

   

The seller who is a fan of the Eagles had to get his last say in when sending the package. I crackled at it of course.

I opened the package up and pulled this beauty out,

 

Gotta appreciate the old Giants logo

And here's a closer look at the helmet. It comes with a Dave and Adams COA. Rodney signing in silver ink really makes this piece impressive.

I am not sure where yet I will display it, I have so much Rodney stuff I need to display but no room so it currently sits on my desk in a pile.

*finishes up first strudel, moves onto the second and the second cup of coffee of course*

Hobby friendships are truly the best. I couldn't picture anyone I know or even my childhood friends offering to do what Ben and Chad did for me. It's truly amazing and inspiring and I appreciate it ever-so-much Ben and Chad, thank you. I may not have the funds to do things like that, but, I do my best by paying-it-forward in other ways.

It's also fun to see how other friendships go in the hobby world that is not my own. I see some picking on each other like children that makes me smile. Bloggers sending stuff to one another even within the same state. Watching kids grow in the hobby when getting mail days from "strangers." Others, like myself, reaching out to some who seem down and need a pick me up whether it's words of encouragement or more. It's so great to see from afar how a piece of cardboard can bring such joy in a multitude of ways and the people it brings into your life.

I cannot say this enough, hobby friendships are truly like no other.