So today is my bday and my wife gave me my birthday gift last night.

This journal is going to come in two parts:

1) Why it is freaking hilarious and kind of perfect that she got me this.

2) Why I'm actually happy with it this time.

So in the long ago days of January 2019 my wife was pregnant with our 2nd child and looking for a way to surprise me with something I'd love for our anniversary. It was a stressful time for us. She was in a high risk pregnancy. There was a very real risk that she'd die and that this could be the 4th and final anniversary together. So she goes on a website and sees my wishlist and buys me a 20T note. Thing is... I didn't have a 20T note on my list. I had a 20 BILLION note on my list, but who can blame her with all fhe freakin zeros, right? That note was also ungraded and it just didn't do anything for me with my already graded 65 EPQ. I felt bad at the time because she tried so hard and she was so pleased with herself but I couldn't hide my confusion when I got it. But we laughed it off, we got to return it, I bought a (much cheaper) graded 67 EPQ 20 Billion note for my set and even one or two other notes with the difference. Her getting me that note reignited my interest in this set after it had lain dormant for years after I was laid off in 2016 and that present became the launching point for what has been a 1.5 year obsession with building out this set. I've said before that building this set was a big part of how I dealt with the stress and anxiety of Sam's birth...

And here it is again. She didn't even remember it / that it was the same note. That fact was lost in the fog of the craziness of that. It was just too funny.

So here's why I'm happy with it this time (in addition to it just being hilarious).

1) This note actually was on my wishlist because that old 65 EPQ was kind of an under-performer in my 3rd dollar set and I'd been thinking that the 20 Trillion would be a priority for upgrade if I ever started upgrading. This 3-point move up is pretty fantastic for what is one of the more important notes in the 3rd dollar series. Since it was a present and since I don't see myself wanting to drop big cash for a 69 EPQ I see this one staying in the set long term now.

2) This note is in a new-gen holder and doesn't have the darker tinted plastic that the old one is in. The new note, while it isn't a "low serial number," is much lower than the old one (184955 vs 298832). The low serial (and the fact that it is a 12 year old note in a new holder in pristine condition) has me thinking that this note spent the last decade in an unbroken bundle / brick and someone must have broken a brick to cherry-pick for some gradable examples.