Family Heirlooms

     One day, everyone in the world is going to come to their senses, and think, "Hey, why on earth are we using china?  It's fragile, and has to be hand washed!  Let's just use plastic stuff from now on!"  And on that day, my mom and I will enjoy a "we told you so" moment as we celebrate with the rest of the world.

     You see, I was never raised with the idea of just having some expensive stuff.  In our house, guests coming over might find themselves out of places to sit, because our couches had been turned into blanket forts.  There was a fancy dining room table, but we never used it, unless we needed an elevated surface to race toy cars down pieced together tracks.

     So, even though this kid is only three months old, and any NBA player worth his snuff could palm him like a basketball, I'm thinking about what I will someday pass down to him.  In my family, we tended to pass down a lot of things; only thing was, they were pretty much all old clothes.  Sweatpants went through my two older brothers before coming down to me, with a healthy patch on each knee.

     I have one thing that my father gave me, that I treasure.  When we went on a canoeing trip up in Canada, he lent me a compass.  This compass was awesome!  You could adjust it for magnetic north, it had a mirror on it, and, um, it had a lanyard, and it, uh, pointed north.  All right, so it's probably a ten dollar compass.  But he gave it to me.  Well, kind of.  It isn't so much a, "Son, whenever you feel lost, hold this compass, and think about who you are."  It's more of a "Oh, hey, I was wondering where I left that old thing!"  I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know I have it.

     So, okay, an old compass.  I can give that to him, and make it a powerful moment, on our first big hiking and camping trip into the mountains.  (Colorado is awesome!)  But, other than that, there's only one thing I can think of passing on, and it would be a whole lot more sentimental, in my opinion.

     When I buy a videogame, odds are that it's from Steam, my preferred online game library thing.  And someday, my dear little DanPar, I will give you my password.  And you will become Soberlion, the mediocre gamer!  You can pick up my achievement-hunting from where I left off.  You can install my mass of Humble Bundle games.  And (tissues ready, folks,) someday, you may even beat my high scores.

     And when you play these old games, that were old even when I got them, you will know that I will always love you.