8.17.2008

I'll trade you that pog for a silly putty.

When Dane and I were little, it was a weekly activity to round up all of the neighborhood kids and have what we deemed a "trading session." A trading session was when you gathered all of your belongings that were of small person value, ie: pogs, baseball and basketball cards, miniature cars, jewelery, the tiny lipsticks my mom kept in a box because she was an avon lady, and small odds and ends from the 25 cent machines, old halloween candy. There would be a meeting place, usually the bedroom my brother and I shared because most likely we were the organizers of such events. We would usher the kids in and they would lay out the goods. This was a very deliberate step, good things in front for the viewers, neat lines and piles. Then we would get behind our stuff in bargaining position. In quiet and serious tones, the trading session would begin. It was a long process in which every kid had to be on his toes, wheelin' and dealin'. Items such as Magic Johnson cards or my special set of Peter Pan pogs were haggled over with determination and skill.

After a couple hours my brother and I ushered out the clients, into the hallway and through the front doors, the new possessions rolled up in the front of their shirts. My brother and I would go back and talk business. Look over our deals and loot, and talk about what and who had been traded. Who had totally been ripped off and which slightly older kid had bullied us into giving away more than we had planned.

Almost indefinitely, a few hours after the trading session, a neighborhood parent would find out and realize that something very valuable had been given away for peanuts. With heads hanging and resent at being caught we would usually thrust newfound treasures back into the grubby hands of the neighborhood kids and they would give back a piece of my moms jewelery or my dad's nolan ryan card.

I only think about this now because i having been helping elisa clean out her room for the past six hours and she keeps giving me things. I am finding the same joy in small and insignificant treasures that I had no idea I'd be claiming as my own. Also, I am currently wearing a sweater I got from Erin, a skirt that I got from Elaine, listening to a cd davey gave me and amanda just texted me and said that she and Mary are wearing the shirts they got yesterday at our big joint garage sale. I think I am experiencing "trading session", college version, and I'm loving it. I just hope my mom doesn't make me give back the sweater and skirt, they were only a dollar.

7 comments:

shelly said...

This makes me think of our kids and all their shenanigans! I LOVE picturing this!

Thaddeus said...

I remember attempting to sell my brothers and sisters and neighbors fresh-squeezed cherry juice. It took about 50 cherries to get about 5 ounces and it was very tart and strong.

Heather said...

Seriously, that is the life!!! You and Dane are two smart kids.

Lia said...

i love everything about this post. i wish pogs and marbles and cards were still the order of the day, but i love that we can all still share clothes and pins and music and in some way spread out our lives. can i trade you some silly putty for a rock tumbled bracelet?

Sofia D. Hoiland said...

I don't know what's better, the story itself or the visions that linger in my mind while reading this.

Nicole Christensen said...

one time i traded my friend a ring for another ring. i thought it was a fair trade. then, later that day, her mother, a fine jewelry store owner, brought the ring to my door and told my mother that i had given her daughter a real DIAMOND ANTIQUE ring for a gum ball machine ring. that was probably worth more than my nine year old life. i can relate. good times.

Nicole Christensen said...

oh, and then i married your little brother.
the end.