When a Tuscaloosa roommate moved out of state and I couldn’t afford to keep our house by myself, my old roommate Debbie came to the rescue and offered me a room in her place. She was living in an old house that had been split into a side-by-side duplex while she worked on her doctorate. At one point, her sister and brother-in-law lived in the other half and a couple of years later, my brother moved into that half. The rooms in Debbie’s place were quite large, but it was still a tight fit for two people. However, since we’d begun our roommate relationship years before in a tiny dorm room, space wasn’t an issue.
I don’t seem to have many photos of that place, and none from outside. Here’s a picture of me sitting on the couch in my bedroom with my good friend Susan, who I met when I was working for the VILEST PERSON IN THE WORLD, but she was a bright spot in that ordeal. In time, I introduced Susan to the man who would become her husband–in fact, they married just a couple of months before Tom and I, and both Susan and Joe were in our wedding.
An elderly couple lived next door to that house, and though I rarely saw his wife, Mr. Crawford was a good friend to Debbie and always really nice to me. He had a huge garden that he tended himself, and he was always giving us fresh vegetables that he’d grown.
One afternoon I was in the backyard with my dog Hamlet, and Mr. Crawford came over to talk to me. He decided one of the plants needed water, and as he reached for the hose, he spied something in the dirt, bent over to pick it up, then gave it to me.
It was the first time I’d ever seen a Walking Liberty half dollar. No telling how long it had been buried before it surfaced, but I’ve kept it all these years to remember our kind-hearted neighbor and the cozy home that I had for a while in Debbie’s house.
once upon a time, I was at a soda machine desperate for a drink. No matter how many times I tried, I just couldn’t get my last dime to go through. Finally, some kind gentleman gave me another dime. When I thanked him and walked away with my soda and the unacceptable dime, I noticed it was all silver and I think it was from around that time, but it won’t be worth much given the battering it had.
http://www.coinstudy.com/1942-half-dollar-value.html
Vinyl! The local thrift store here has probably hundreds of used albums, however most of it is either christmas, spanish sing-a-longs or classical in questionable condition. The collection of 45s, however, is amazing.
Oh, I’d never sell something of such sentimental value unless it was worth thousands–and this certainly isn’t. Although there are some earlier Walking Liberty coins that are worth hundreds of thousands in mint condition.
I no longer have a turntable. I do still have a lot of my vinyl, but most of the records sustained water damage in one of the houses I lived in. Mostly I keep them for the covers.
Vinyl is experiencing a comeback among the 20 somethings. We shared some of our vinyl with our daughter this summer. Last week, we even dared to see if our turntable still worked. It did and we had fun sharing stories of bands we had seen in concert, in days gone by.
That’s great! Almost all of my vinyl is unplayable now, even if I had a turntable. Though I’m sure I could still play all my 45s, which I’ve held onto through thick and thin.
That reminds me, I should go get my old silver dollars, half dollars and mercury dimes out of my safe deposit box so I can list them in my will. When I was a kid my uncles and aunts used to give me the old coins they came across.
Well, if you find one of those old coins that’s worth half a million dollars, could you put me in your will, too!?! =)