My sister Kathy’s house has always had a cool bar in the basement. In addition to having a cool bar, she has always had fun decorating it. Well, when I was in college, I thought it would be funny to have a photo the Vice President displayed above Kathy’s bar. Yes, my sense of humor has always been a little off, but considering that the Vice President was Dan Quayle (remember him?), it really was sort of a funny idea.
I ended up writing to the Vice President asking for a photo and he fulfilled my request with an autographed photo that was proudly displayed in my sister’s basement.
Administration’s changed and at my request, Al Gore sent Kathy a photo that she proudly displayed.
Administration’s changed again and even in the midst of the anthrax scare, Dick Cheney continued my bit of playfulness with my sibling. By the way, across parties, across administrations, they always sent me a photo. Make the people happy.
Well for whatever reason, I was slow to get Joe Biden’s photo. Really, really slow. About six years slow. Not that I would not think about it. For months, maybe years, I had a Post-It Note above our home computer that simply said, “Biden Photo,” but I never finished the job. At work, there was an old conference room once used by the IRS, where a photo of Biden was left behind. He would look down on me with a grin, as if to say, “Go ahead and write the letter. You can do it, big guy.”
Flash forward to last month, my 11-year-old son Jacob and I were having our usual debate about a 3-0 count in baseball. I have a strongly held view that you never, ever, ever swing at a 3-0 pitch, because it is your best change at getting on base. Ever. Period. Without doing anything. Don’t swing! Jacob however believes that it is going to be the best pitch you will see, so you should swing if it is going to be a strike. I had just finished reading “Moneyball,” where the General Manager of the Oakland A’s, Billy Beane, goes on and on about the value of getting on base. Who better to settle our argument? So Jacob and I sat down and wrote him a nice letter asking him to settle our dispute.
As I printed off the letter, I saw the lonely and neglected Post-It Note saying, “Biden Photo.” It was time for me to get that latest photo of the number two politician in the country for the number one sister in the world. It probably took me less than five minutes and the request was off in the mail.
Today, I received a response, not from Billy Beane, probably since the A’s are in last place and he is trying to figure out a way to proceed with the season. Instead it was a nice envelope that contained a simple photo of a powerful man. The streak is alive. Thank you, Joe Biden… and Dick Cheney… and Al Gore… and Dan Quayle. Kathy, smile, because soon this will need a space in your basement…
