I Want That!

When I was a kid, I had a great desire for a great many things. This toy was one of the things I most coveted and I did indeed receive it. It was Christmas. Maybe the Christmas of '57, maybe '58. I still have it. I talked about it here and here mostly about a monologue I did where I used it as a prop. I still have it and I think I'm going to keep it even with the great downsizing. The motor inside doesn't work and there are some small parts in there that didn't come with the original. But it's mine. It's mine in spite of the fact that the illustration on the toy has a clear message: "This toy is for boys!" I was a bit embarrassed about receiving it, but I loved it. I loved owning it more than the engineering feats I achieved with it which were few. I'm really not that good with tools. But I love tools and mechanical things. And forgive me if it seemed that my nine-year-old self was being told not to want them.

I did not get the American Tool Set. I own the metal box. I think my sister bought it in a junk shop and gave it to me during my dilettante toy collecting stage. I think I'll use it in the condo to keep a few extra hammers and pliers and such handy.

I think I had some Lincoln Logs once but maybe it was my younger (boy) cousins who also had the earliest plastic interlocking bricks I saw, maybe Legos. In any case I didn't own this particular set. I will concede that there is a girl on this one, but don't you think she is looking admiringly at her brother's creation wondering if her doll house dolls will fit inside?

So, in the process of downsizing I made these photos before deciding what to do with the objects. I have given up most of the toys I collected either to thrift stores, kids or back to my sister who still actively collects way too many things. I don't regret it. But I'm not guaranteeing that some time in the future I won't buy something in a garage sale or junk shop that reminds me of those 1950's desires. Heck, I may even go to Toys 'R Us or Toy Joy one day and buy something for me. I'm over it for the moment, though. I'm even postponing my desire for several adult gadgets until we are settled in the condo and out of the house. (There is that digital SLR and a GPS gadget. Adult toys, I think.)