I was in 6th grade, flying to Florida for vacation with my family and my best friend Mike. We were headed down to see Twins Spring Training, back when the players had to walk past the fans to get into the park.
For the flight down, I had saved all of my pennies to buy a box of '91 Donruss cards to open on the way. Just after we started opening them, we hit some turbulence -- nothing big at first, but it really did turn nasty. I was oblivious to it as Mike and I ripped open packs, but my parents later told us folks around us were truly scared.
We got down to the last few and, as I opened one of the final packs, I couldn't really process what I was seeing. The most gorgeous card I'd ever seen was sitting right in the middle of the pack, bronze foil on the front with marbled effect on the back. It was a Rickey Henderson Elite series card -- I'd heard about them, but had never seen one much less held one. Mike and I both were going ballistic, screaming, and all the while my parents trying to calm us down thinking we were terrified of this horrible turbulence.
Pulling that card, really in the days before premium cards were "a thing", was an absolutely formative childhood experience. It's not gem mint, but I'll never part with it!
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