Between my Brother and I we had two full toy-boxes, 8 full rubbermaid containers, and 6 boxes. My Brother got all of his stuff that he wanted to keep to fit into his toy-box and then one extra rubbermaid. His keepsakes were his hotwheels track and cars, his Darth Vader helmet, and legos. It was amazing to see some of the things he said goodbye to. For example, he has a bunch of finger skateboards, and he donated all two bins that were full. The next day it was my turn.
As we started sorting through all my dolls, my Mom and I came to realize that the only doll I had ever really taken care of got lost in our move 8 years ago. It was a sad moment but I think it was better that it got lost 8 years ago rather than right now. It would have been something very difficult to say goodbye to. We then sorted through all my legos. Keep in mind, I had only three or four sets, so they all fit in a small ziploc bag. Where as my Brother, his would barely fit in two bins. My legos mostly consisted of girls at the beach, or Hermione's potion class set from Harry Potter. Nothing like a Millennium Falcon or anything. (Yes, my Brother has the Millennium Falcon and is very proud of it.)
We started sorting through all my stuffed animals. I managed to go from a whole three totes, down to a small grocery bag. However, as we were going through them, it started to bring back memories. One of the dogs for example, I got when we went to visit my Great Grandmother. One of the bears, I got as part of my Easter basket one year. However the most meaningful thing I found all day was my Cabbage Patch kid Rattle baby. You are probably thinking, those babies had a rattle in the head and she is almost 21 and keeping it? Well, let me explain. When all four of us Grandkids were born, our Grandparents all got us a doll. Still today, we all have ours, and we still call them by their names: Ralphie, Matthew, Ally, and Luther. It is something that has more meaning than any of my other toys. I will never have a toy better than Ally.
The final thing we sorted was my Barbies. Let me just say this, my daughter will never be allowed to play with Barbies. She can have a doll house and a big kitchen, but no Barbies. They will stay at Grandma's house. As an only granddaughter, I was overly spoiled with Barbies. I have so many that they barely fit into an extra-large hefty bag. It blew my mind how many I had. Quite frankly, it was ridiculous.
All together, we donated more than 60 puzzles, more than 20 board games, three large garbage bags of stuffed animals and dolls, four large boxes of toys, and we still have three more crates to donate when we find the time. As we made the 1 mile drive to donate our stuff, it almost felt like I was saying goodbye to my childhood memories. Yet, at the same time, it was a relief to finally be able to say goodbye to such a big part of my childhood.
My all time favorite Disney movie growing up was Peter Pan. The idea of never growing up and always staying as a kid, seemed the perfect plan. Is that reality though? Personally, inside I will always be a kid. Come Christmas, I won't be able to sleep through the night and I'll be up at the crack of dawn. In the story of Peter Pan, the Author, J.M. Barrie writes, "Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting." Instead of saying goodbye to my childhood toys, I want to think of giving my childhood toys to others to make their own childhood memories.
It doesn't take toys for me to remember my childhood. I will always be a child at heart. I will never grow up.
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