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Flashback Friday - Toy Story


Babysitters worth their salt will be well versed with all of the Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks cartoon movies that kids like to watch.  By kids, I include big old senior kids like myself.    Ask me my reviews of Rio, Brave, Ice Age, Happy Feet, Up, or Tangled. One of my, uh, Norah's favorites is Toy Story III, and the other two which form a pretty nifty trio of Pixar animated magic.  The over-arching premise is that eventually kids give up their toys, they stop being kids and grow up.  The toy angst is to be abandoned by their kids.  In the end Woody, Buzz and their buddies do lose their kid Andy, but find someone else who needs the comfort and joy of toys.

Today's flashback is to show you guys that this big old kid never gave up all of his toys.  Sure, I don't have either one of the electronic football games we got for Christmas, or the pinball machine that got ruined in the Great Flood.  Gone is the panda teddy bear that I just had to have one Christmas.  One summer our grandparents who lived in Quincy brought us up toys useful for the sandbox we had next to the house.  I still remember it being a type of wheeled augur with buckets perfect for sand.  They are all long gone except for these.

As a 10 or 11 year old I slipped out to the garage once and started practising my driving.  I opened the garage door got into the driver's seat and decided to work on my reverse skills.  I started the car, slowly put the car in gear and gently touched the accelerator and moved the car a bit outside.  Then I would put the car in "D" and slowly bring it back in.  I'm not sure which time it happened but I must have attempted to reverse but my foot slipped and the car went back far too fast.  I was able to brake in time but, trouble was, I forgot to close the door.  It got jammed on something alongside the garage and tore it up pretty good.  It had to go into the shop for repairs.  My ass was dinged up a little too, when Dad got home.

The Mercedes has a little suspension problem, and the old Model T truck some rust, but they were good reliable toys that I had as a little kid and treasure for the time they gave me and their durability.  They aren't worth much, none is a Tonka which I understand bring good prices in auctions.  None are in their original box which brings more.  No, these were take home and play with objects, probably ripped out of their boxes in the back seat of the car and run up my Wombie's arm and face to check out the friction plate rear tires.

Through all the moves and one major flood, I kept these guys.  I figure if they can stay loyal to me for 50 years then I can hang on just as long.  I find it a bit interesting that they are all in the automotive area.  In what was a bit of foreshadowing these guys paved the way for this writer to become an avid old car fan and collector.   The question to ponder, then, is did these toys ingrain in me this future personal compulsion, or was the seed already there, and manifested in the toys I enjoyed?  The answer of course is and will remain a mystery.  How can we know?

What toys have you kept?


 


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