It was a nondescript box, waiting in a pile to be put out in the rubbish, that was full of generic video and audio-cassettes.

Then I noticed, it had a copy of "Aladdin". Weird, I thought. Why throw this out?

Then as I looked through, the cassettes although mostly unmarked - looked vaguely familiar. Then when I came across a tape marked "Joey's Birthday 8/29/92" then I knew what it was.

I thought this stuff had been lost forever.

The videotape was of the last time I was with my father in Chicago. Music tapes that LilBro used to make for me, tapes for my car, and TV shows I had taped for time-shifting purposes while working the night-shift at AOL. Basically, my stuff while living in Jacksonville, surfacing after 5 years.

I really thought this stuff had all been destroyed.

Man, I am so glad to see 'em intact.

Why? I dunno. It may have been the worst time of my life financially, but I still look back on that time fondly.

Funny how that works out sometimes.