During my first divorce, as I moved my stuff in my car to a friend’s house across town, everything got jumbled together in boxes, so it was hard to sort out. A month later, I moved again, this time to another house where I would spend most of the coming year.
Slowly, as I settled in, I unpacked the boxes and sorted through old letters and books, some reaching back to my childhood. My oldest son, then about eight, had just become a big baseball fan, rooting for the Giants, playing little league, and collecting baseball cards. I told him about my own card collection back in the Fifties, when I was around his age.
He came over to spend the night one Saturday and I dug through my boxes to see whether any baseball-related stuff had survived the many moves I'd made since childhood. Out tumbled an old scrapbook, circa 1958, with prime baseball cards of legendary stars including Willy Mays, Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams, among others, glued inside.
We both gasped. Collectively, these old cards might be worth a small fortune! We were both looking for positive signs that our future might turn out to be brighter than it appeared to be at that time, so this was potentially good news.
This was long before the likes of eBay, so I checked directly with collectors, who explained the cards might be valuable assuming they could be removed from the scrapbook without damaging them.
Alas, upon further investigation it turned out that removing them would destroy them. So we just left them in the place where had I pasted them all those decades ago.
We still loved having them and he would show them to friends when they came over. Eventually, I realized the only real value they had was they helped us create a memory of one moment together. And over time, I’ve come to treasure that memory much more than money anyway.
LINKS:
McCarthy says House could vote on debt ceiling deal as soon as next week (CNBC)
Biden declares ‘America will not default,’ says he’s confident of budget deal with GOP lawmakers (AP)
Supreme Court shields Twitter from liability for terror-related content and leaves Section 230 untouched (CNN)
Trust in Supreme Court fell to lowest point in 50 years after abortion decision, poll shows (AP)
Leak suspect shared classified secrets with foreign nationals, prosecutors say (WP)
Adults in Florida can now be criminally charged if they don’t use the bathroom that matches the sex they were assigned at birth after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed one of the most draconian bathrooms bills in the U.S. Advocates have raised concern over the bill's vague text and how the law would be enforced. [HuffPost]
Texas Legislature Bans Transgender Medical Care for Children (NYT)
U.S. cities are growing again after losing population during the pandemic. Most of the 37 cities with more than 500,000 people saw their populations fall in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. All but six are rebounding, according to new census data. (WP)
Hiding Behind the AI Apocalypse (Atlantic)
Meta built a code-generating AI model similar to Copilot (TechCrunch)
In Battle Over A.I., Meta Decides to Give Away Its Crown Jewels (NYT)
6 major risks of using ChatGPT, according to a new study (ZDNet)
Here’s How AI Will Come for Your Job (Atlantic)
Where AI evolves from here (Axios)
A professor falsely accused his class of using ChatGPT. Their diplomas are in jeopardy. (WP)
TikTok Feeds Teens a Diet of Darkness (WSJ)
The Daring Robot Surgery That Saved a Man’s Life (Wired)
Why former Trump White House lawyer thinks Trump will go to jail (CNN)
The wind-turbine industry should be booming. Why isn’t it? (Economist)
Russia fires 30 cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets; Ukraine says 29 were shot down (AP)
Russia launches ninth wave of missile attacks on Kyiv this month (BBC)
The Latest Rift Among Ukraine’s Allies Is Whether to Send F-16s (NYT)
Iran warns Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers not to violate its water rights, over Helmand River (AP)
Colombia plane crash: Children reportedly survived 17 days in jungle (BBC)
Why birds and their songs are good for our mental health (WP)
Octopuses may have nightmares about predators attacking them (New Scientist)
VIDEO: Scientists Create Detailed Digital Replica of the Titanic Shipwreck
(Atlantic Productions/magellan)
Napkinless Man With Grease-Covered Fingers Realizes He Trapped In A Prison Of His Own Creation (The Onion)
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