I didn’t know my grandfather very well, at least my maternal grandfather. He died when I was four, maybe? I only have a couple of fleeting memories of him, almost like snap shots. The one thing I remember most is kissing him goodbye on the cheek as we were getting ready to leave their house. Specifically, I remember the stubble on his cheek. And by one thing, I mean only thing. The only other thing I think I remember is the night he died, but when I check that story with my mom, I’m getting details wrong, and transposing one memory on another.
From what else she told me about him, I am definitely his grandkid. I never really knew what he did for work, as opposed to my other grandfather. Grandpa Terry was retired most of the time I knew him, but I also know the name of the company he worked for (Hamilton Standard) and even the last building he worked at before he retired. (If you live in CT and you fly out of, Bradley, you pass it on the expressway that takes you from 91 to the airport.) But my grandpa Heise? His resume is more of a checkerboard than mine. He hitch-hiked from CT to San Francisco-twice. He worked where he had to to pay the bills he needed to. And he had, as the old saying goes, champagne tastes on a beer barrel budget.
It’s that last part that I’ve been thinking about today. To be honest, I think about it a lot, but today is definitely one in his honor. There was a fundraiser today for Wookie and The Dude, two bouncers from the Green Parrot who got jumped while working a few weeks ago. There have been several fundraisers around the island since the assault, and even today during the “official” benefit other bars sent donations over to aid the fund. It was a beautiful demonstration of a community coming together.
Personally I don’t know either one of them. I rarely drink at the Parrot, but the Wookie’s son is a friend of mine who works at Schooner, so when he told me what happened, before even most people had heard, I knew I would help out. And so today, I went down to the parrot with a budget in mind of what I want to spend. Suffice it to say I made my grandpa proud and blew that budget out. And it was one thing to spend money on raffles and 50/50 and tips. That was all I planned to spend on. Had no intention of going through the silent auction.
Now, there was a lot to silently auction on. Dinners, cruises, art work, booze, name it they had it, including a signed Nolan Ryan ball that my friend Alan wanted. What else there was, as I finally discovered, was a ball signed by Carl Yastrzemski. Supposedly. It’s not authenticated. Oh well. I did what any silent auctioneer does. I waited until almost the end, bid, and then bided my time. It was kind of between me and another guy (he also lost on the Nolan Ryan ball and I think he was trying to take it out on me) and we talked, and he finally said he wouldn’t over-bid me. So I bid, and then I left. I was either winning or losing. Standing around wasn’t gonna change that.
Well, I won. And as I type this I look at the case holding a baseball signed by Yaz while at the Hall of Fame in 1984. Or’89. Hard to tell. Probably ’89, seeing as how that’s the year he was elected to the H.O.F. And it has no certificate to prove it was really him. And it’s in unbelievable shape for a signature that is 23 (or 28) years old. Maybe it’s not his signature.
But who cares?
I didn’t buy it because at some point I’m going to sell it and cash in on an investment. And I didn’t really buy it because I’ve always wanted the autograph of the third greatest Red Sox ever. (EVER!!) If I did, I could have gone through authenticated channels. I bought it because I grew up rooting for Yaz and because two guys who work in the same business I do need help with medical bills. To me, that’s Yaz’s autograph, and I won’t ever think otherwise, regardless of what I spent on it. I could have done other stuff with the money, stuff for me. Maybe it would have been productive stuff, maybe it just would have been a couple more bar tabs. In the end it would have bought me things I would almost assuredly have forgotten about just as quickly as I spent the money on them.
But instead it helped pay a medical tab. And, regardless of the lack of “authentic” paper, it bought me a piece of my childhood.
PopcornJackTerry 