Been thinking a lot about my Old Cards lately and getting back into collecting

I wont get into the whole story but TLDR when I was 18 I got kicked out of the house. My mom was a drug addict and a piece of shit, and when I came home from school one day before graduation the locks were changed and there was a note on the door that said "You are no longer welcome here, you can come back in a week and grab your stuff". When I came back after a week of sleeping on a friends couch, my mother had basically removed all of my valuables from the house. An xbox 360, laptop, and my pokemon cards from when I was a kid. I had a full 151 collection, and some holos from gen 2. Police weren't able to do anything, and I've resented her for this ever since.

I'm 35 now.. I didn't understand it at the time, and 've dealt with some serious trauma over the years healing from it, but I ended up moving out of state and living with my dad and I now have a wonderful wife and house and pets.

Ive been thinking about starting to collect again, and havent really opened a pack since buying gen 2 stuff with my dad as a kid. My wife and I are starting a family soon, and I want to get my kid into collecting to experience some of the magic that I had as a child.

If you were going to start today where would you start? From what I understand all the vintage stuff is way too pricey, but I have a lot of nostalgia for the original 151.