Do you ever find yourself browsing through the toy aisle, telling yourself you’d love to own a toy if you were still a child?
I’m grateful for the childhood I had and the toys my parents could afford during this time. I would have loved to stay with them, but my mom eventually gave them away. I know it may sound selfish of me to want to stay with toys that are just going to gather dust on an abandoned shelf. However, sometimes I could use the comfort they provided me when I was little. They remind me of simpler times, when my biggest worry was if my mom would let me stay at my uncle’s house.
Currently, I’m in my second year of college and this is my first time living away from home. Although I have my friends around me, I get overwhelmed and just want to be a kid again every so often. Before, I couldn’t wait to grow up and try adult-like things, but now that I’m actually going through it, I just want to go back to my grandmother’s house, where my cousins and I used to play.
Our parents were busy working and my grandmother used to take care of us. I remember not wanting to go to sleep because I was too excited to play with my cousins. At nighttime, we played Mario Party on our Nintendo DS; mine was metallic pink. In the morning, we ran outside to her little gazebo-type backyard structure and opened my two plastic purple boxes that were full of toys. We played all day with Littlest Pet Shop bobbleheads, My Little Pony figurines, and Barbie dolls. And, one day, we cleaned up like we always did, not knowing it was going to be our last time…
It’s a sappy story, but I’m content with what my mother did. Looking back, I think it’s better that I don’t have them physically. After giving it a long hard thought, I decided that I’d rather cherish them in my memories, where I know they will never change. I have a feeling the new owner gave them lots of love. I also hope that the toys gave them as much joy as they once did to me.