"did you PLAY with these?!"

my parents have been storing several boxes of my old toys for years. I just picked them up from them a few weeks ago. when I opened the boxes, I was transported back to my childhood. there they were: transformers, gi-joe figures, he-man figures, playsets, vehicles, and a whole lot of spider-man toys. it was like opening a time capsule or a treasure chest.

but what was I going to do with all of this stuff? I’ve got no room to store it. I don’t want to wait for it to sell on ebay- and I don’t really know how to sell it on ebay. there is this used toy store in town that seems to specialize in toys from the 80’s. I called them and asked if they were interested, and I got ready to take them down.

before I took them down, I started getting them all ready. I put all of the toys in little baggies and made sure that all of the little plastic accessories went together. as I did this, I could see that many of these toys had dates inscribed on them from as early as 1979. jane came by to see what was happening. she said, “hey dad. can I play with this green car?” (It was a gi-joe tank!) “sure.” I said. so she put dora the explorer and woody from toy story in the tank and drove them around her room. she thought it was a car.

I finally had everything organized. of course, nothing was in mint condition, everything had a piece or two missing or something slightly broken. but I was hopeful. as I drove down to the store I wondered, “how much money will I get for this stuff? maybe $100? maybe $1000? I’ll be happy with anything.”

“I lugged all of these boxes out of my little beetle into this guy’s store. this guy knew his toys. he looked at my optimus prime and said, “the exhaust is always broken on these…” he looked at my shogun-warrior Godzilla, and said, “these are always missing the hand…” as he was holding one of the toys he stopped and said, “did you PLAY with these toys?” (as if I had committed a crime.) after about a minute, he closed the boxes and said, “how about $40?” I was a little surprised. he explained, “I already HAVE all of these toys. not only that, I have all of these toys- and they are all STILL in the box, never even touched!” then he walked me around his shop and showed me those same toys that I brought in, but his were still in the box, as if they traveled through time from the early 80’s.

I put all of my boxes back in my car. as I drove home and thought to myself, “did I PLAY woth those toys? heck yes I played with those toys! and I played with many other toys that didn't survive- I played with them until they were broken. I enjoyed them. I loved them. my mom bought me these toys, not to be saved, but to play with! these toys aren’t worth anything now, because I played with them!" then I thought, "who would be interested in these toys?" my answer? BOYS! boys with vivid imaginations like mine would enjoy these toys. so now I’m looking for some boys who could would appreciate these toys and can enjoy the same adventures that I did as a kid. so now I'm looking for an orphanage or a shelter, and I’m going to give them these toys. because these toys are not meant to sit in a box for 30 years. they are not investments, they’re toys! and they are meant to be enjoyed by boys.

God is love.
-rev-rob