12
when grandma dies it's traditional to get together and fight over who gets all of her stuff. it's especially important to scream really loud that you're supposed to get X. even if you don't want X. in which case, it's even more especially important to scream even louder that you don't want X. and it's critically important to end every lull of more than 6 seconds with the statement: you can't have this. anywho, maybe that's just my family. or maybe it's just the women in my family. i wanted two things: the house and the baseball. i ended up with the house, the baseball, a pocket knife, a tin, and a teapot. the beautiful and talented alisa wanted the teapot. i built the house when i was 12 or so. 12 being the age i was when i did everything that i did when i was kid. it was a scale model of the house my grandparents lived it. came out pretty good. the years were kinda hard on it. and the doghouse was long lost. ah well. my grandfather managed to burn himself rather badly one time. i happened to hit a home run in a little league all-star game while he was in the hospital. so i signed it and dedicated it to him to cheer him up. they wouldn't let him drink. so he was kinda unhappy. it's one of only two home runs i ever hit during all the years i played baseball. so it's kinda cool. or maybe i'm just getting old. i made many many "pocket knives" out of popsicle sticks when i was 12. don't know why this one was special enough to be saved for three decades. i would have liked to have the lionels and the playboys. but the lionels apparently didn't make the move out of philadelphia when i was 12. and the playboys apparently disappeared sometime after i discovered them in his basement when i was 12.