I have written before about my parents selling my toys out from under me at garage sales when I was a kid. Every once in a while, I look back on the stuff I had and wish I still had it.

Case in point: The silver Pez gun. I used to have a silver Pez gun. I remember it well. It rarely had Pez in it, but it worked and, like most of my toys, it was in damn good shape. This, like many of my other toys of value, was sold out from under me at a garage sale.

"But you weren't playing with it!" cry the parents. No, not at this exact moment, I wasn't. But that doesn't necessarily imply that I've lost interest. I'll get back to it later.

That didn't seem to fly with my parents.

Dad's always been a big fan of "paring down" the stuff we own. Sort of a "less is more" philosophy. I can understand that, as an adult, but even though I understand it, I still don't practice it. I'm haunted by the idea that I'm going to get rid of something and then want to use it a week later. (This applies more to general household items, CDs, games, etc., than it does to straight up junk.)

Anyway, I used to have a silver Pez gun. I wish I still did. I just looked them up on eBay, and for a gun like that, loose (not on the card or with packaging), in good condition (not as good as I had my Pez gun in), you can get between $125 and $200.

I will not even get into how much money my other toys would be worth. I had lots of good stuff. No Star Wars stuff, mind you, but lots of cool stuff.

At least I still have my GI Joes, Transformers, and Legos.