Take me back....

Today I had a blast from the past and it was awesome.  It was library day, and one of my kids brought his Leggo catalog with him to view with his friends. On the back cover of the catalog there was an impossibly large Leggo construction of the Taj Mahal. Just looking at the picture brought back memories of pain in my fingertips from pinching together tiny Leggo blocks when I was a kid. I asked one of my students if building with Leggos ever hurts his fingers. He said that his fingers didn't hurt, but that is because of this new-fangled lever-like device that allows you to pry the pieces apart without suffering the burns from pressing those tiny pieces together. I have to admit, I did not like Leggos because they hurt my fingers too much. I suppose I am not the only one, or else they wouldn't have come up with the handy-dandy lever. 

The kids flicked through the pages of the catalog and I stopped them when they came to the Star Wars toys. Just the mere mention of Star Wars sends me back to my childhood. I was not a girl who played with baby dolls. I had stuffed animals (and could never get rid of a single one in all of my years--I've donated, but even today I have my most favorite stuffies tucked away in a trunk for safekeeping) and I had Barbies, but never baby dolls. I also loved the toys that boys played with. He-Man. I had She-Ra and my best boy friend had He-Man and we played with our figurines together. Construx.  But Star Wars falls into a whole separate category. 

When I saw the page of Star Wars models, I began to tell the boys about all of the Star Wars things I had. At first, they were fairly nonchalant. I told them I loved R2-D2 when I was little. But then I had them in the palm of my hand when I told them I had the Millennium Falcon. Their eyes widened with disbelief. How could their teacher own such a thing? They pointed to one of the giant Storm Trooper transports from Empire Strikes Back, thinking that I didn't know what it was. They told me that it makes noises and was really cool. I proudly informed them that I had one, and it took 6 D batteries and made noises. Then more bombs dropped when I told them about being the proud owner of an Eewok village. They exclaimed "YOU HAD AN EEWOK VILLAGE? THOSE ARE REALLY RARE!" I nodded and said, "Yep, and I even had Yoda's little hut that he lived in."

I am now a god.

Who knew teachers could be so cool?