Not only was yesterday Christmas for gamers, thanks to the long-awaited release of the PS4, but Vicki and I (and Tammy, in absentia) also got to play a small part in some Christmas goodness. A comic store owner in Windsor, Shawn Cousineau of Rogues Gallery Comics, has made an annual habit of getting comics into the hands of underprivileged kids every Christmas. It's something he started several years ago, inspired by the fact that he and his single mother had benefited from similar acts of generosity when he was a child. I heard about his campaign to get 6000 comics donated to the cause and remembered that Tammy had given me several boxes of her old comics, asking me to find a new home for them. She'd brought them here before leaving for Australia in 2011, but I hadn't gotten around to doing anything with them yet.
The combination of the PS4 arriving and our planned trip to Windsor yesterday got ugly around 10:30 when the street crews began setting up to finish the paving of our crescent that had begun over a month ago. They'd put one layer down back in September or early October, and then they disappeared for about six to eight weeks, only to pick Nov 15th, of all dates, to complete the job! As it started to look like they'd be closing the street and my PS4 hadn't yet made an appearance, we gave up on waiting for it. I figured the mail truck would never be able to get on the street once the paving started anyway, so why bother waiting? We loaded the car up with the four boxes of comics but had to take the long way around the crescent as the usual exit was blocked by trucks filled with asphalt. We got halfway around the crescent when I saw a Canada Post truck parked in a driveway, so I stopped the car and jumped out. I approached the truck, saw that the driver was our regular mailman, and was about to ask him if he happened to have a package for me when he hopped out and handed it to me! I couldn't believe how lucky I was, or how close I'd come to missing it!
After thanking the postman profusely, we packed the box into the trunk with the other cargo, and headed to Windsor. Once we got there, we spent about an hour in Rogues Gallery Comics, getting to know Shaun, and discovering just what a nice, friendly guy he is! He couldn't have been more grateful for the donation, and was just a joy to talk to. He's one of the nicest comic store guys I've ever met, and I've encountered a lot of them.
Anyway, Tammy can be proud of herself, as her former collection (minus a handful of comics that we knew she'd like to hold onto) will brighten Christmas morning for several hundred needy children in the Windsor/Essex County area. What a great role for a few boxes of comics to play!
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