I haven't tried doing this before, adding useful criticism to a story fragment. I can see it's difficult. Its so easy to find things to be discouraging about, and that isn't only not what I want to do, it's also destructive. So the first thing I want to emphasize is that I see a lot of promise here, and lot of ability, a lot of reason to keep working on this. The things I say below are just my opinions and are meant to help make the story better, and to give you something to think about, not in any way to upset or discourage you.
I would like this story to be less of a ramble. When I read a story, it's more comfortable if there are anchors in it I can hold on to, anchors like where we are, when we're there, who we are. With this story, it sort of moves all over the place, and I'm not sure where I am, or why, or what's important, so I have a discomfort right from the beginning. It's not a huge or unmanageable discomfort, not a reason to stop reading, but it exists, and it's easier to enjoy something if you're not feeling uncomfortable. Part of this feeing that the story is a little out of control is your verb usage. You change tenses a lot, and doing so makes the reader uncertain just where he is, what time frame he's reading in, what came earlier and what later.
I got to wondering about why you'd say "my dad" and follow that up almost immediatey with "my Grandfather." Seniority doesn't change the capitalization.
I like your imagination; all the memory fragments are interesting. You have some good insights and you use emotion well to make your characters compelling. I do have an innate feeling, however, that if the whole were centered a little differently, grounded perhaps, if I had a little better feel while reading it of where we are, how the chonology works, if it didnt just drift around like a helium-filled balloon that had escaped its owner, I could follow it better and have more of a sense of knowing where we were headed, both of which would make reading it more enjoyable.
I think you have great promise here. I also think you need to do a little more work, think about exactly what you want to accomplish and perhaps restructure it somewhat to better achieve that. This of course is must one man's opinion, and your story to do with as you wish. I think it can be great.
Cole