Joined the service years ago. While in boot camp and unbeknownst to me, my parents decided to buy another smaller new house and sold the old one. I returned home after I finished "basic training" to the new house. All my bedroom furniture was gone. I had a crisp 1934 star $20 bill in an envelope taped to the back of the top drawer of my dresser. When I received it from the bank after cashing a savings bond I thought it looked cool, so I decided to stash it away. Gone, also, were the many boxes of baseball cards, Ruth, Mantle, DiMaggio, etc. along with my collection of comic books, Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, first issue of The Incredible Hulk (bought it just before I left for the service) that I stored beneath the attic floorboards. We argued why one didn't tell the other about the comics or house sale, but in the end, my father said, "What's done is done, we have to forget it and move on." Yeah, easy for him to say. OH, if only....
I had a hiding spot under the floorboards in the attic. My friends and I kept our bottles of Boones Farm there. My folks moved and rented out the old house. For 20 years I worried that one of the bottles would blow in the summer heat. When the renters moved I had my first chance to search the attic. I only found one empty bottle. It was covered with dust but still in good shape. That bottle is almost 50 years old now and is safe on a shelf in my office. It brings back good memories, every time I look at it.
I think a lot of us older folks have similar stories. When my father's plumbing shop went bankrupt in the early 60s, the whole family moved north and I was limited to what I could bring in the single U-Haul trailer. My entire baseball card and comic book collection was left behind, unbeknownst to me. My mother unloaded them when the trailer was too full for a few household items. It took me a long time to forgive her for that. Water under a bridge now.
