No, it's not a bad thing at all!!

Greetings!!

I believe I am in my fourth shade of blue as I have held my breath for about a week now awaiting the results of the grades of my submitted coins. I am glad the "Order Status" button is a virtual one and not a real one, because I am sure I would have worn that button out by now as many times as I have clicked on that.

Today I noticed my status was "Quality Control" and I started saying all kinds of prayers to about a dozen different gods asking..OK begging for an outbreak of MS and PF 70's, and thinking that I would see the results, I closed my eyes while I clicked on my invoice number that reveals the coin order.

Well, if I had actually READ what "Quality Control" meant, I would have known that the results are not readable online until the "Finalized" portion of the process. Which I suspect will be done by Thursday as NGC is really moving quickly in the process right now.

I had to laugh at myself. This is the emotions of a kid at Christmas that a 41 year old man is feeling, and it feels wonderful. These emotions made me realize that even though last year was a year of living very frugal, my family made it through.

The emotions of happiness made me take a deep look at how my life has transpired in the past 10 years from literally being homeless for a short time, to having everything that I need...not always everything I want, but always what I need.

Last year I traded in a job that had me running all over the valley here in Salt Lake City working 50 plus hours a week, to a job where I can work 40, earn days off quickly, and really enjoy my life and my family and my hobby. I realized today that the $3 an hour cut has been more than made up for with my benefits...and I will see that $3 in about another year.

So, today I realized more than ever what this hobby means to me. Coin collecting is my doorway to seeing what really matters, and what happiness can do. I just have to open that door more often and know that it really is happiness that is knocking.

So, I await my grades, and I will be thrilled to get the coins back and to report here what grades my coins got.

And I will remain optimistic and happy as I remember why I collect and write here in the first place.

It makes me happy!!

Good luck to you all!! Thanks again for reading my thoughts!!