Letting Go


  This was my car port last Saturday.  Nothing special, really.  Our whole neighborhood had a garage sale.
   See the train table.  That's my nine-year-old's.  He wanted to sell it.  See, he has to get on his knees to play on it now (building legos, no more trains) .  Used to be, he held onto the sides so it would hold him up.  We got it for him when he was just two and wooden trains named Thomas were constantly clutched in his hands.
   Most of the morning people came and went.  The red chair (very comfortable but too big for my office) went.  All the appliances (finally selling off the doubles I received for my wedding.  Really, I got four crockpots!  And yes, I've been married almost 12 years, so these were vintage appliances) went except for the quesadilla maker.
  But I ramble.
  I didn't want the train table to sell.
  The train room has turned into the lego room and is about to turn into the Xbox room, but Mommy-Me wants the train room back.
  I've looked in his bedroom and in the living room and now in the lego room and here's what I see:   Nothing left from his toddler years.
  He's growing up, and I just have one!
  But, I sat next to him and hawked the train table.
  After the garage sale ended, we carried the train table back in.  It didn't sell.  It's in the lego room, unused and lonely.
  Last evening I took my son and his friend to the skateboard park.  He put his feet on the skateboard and went down a steep dip, jumped, turned, skidded, and then looked at me.  I smiled and yelled WOW.
  Really, I don't need no stinkin' train table.
  I've got a Mike.

  What remnant from your children's early days did you have a hard time parting with?

         
Click Here  for a chance to win not only Pamela's book, but also Melinda Curtis's and Cynthia Thomason's.  And, in celebration of Mother's Day, this bouquet might also come your way!

 



Comments

  1. Pam, They grow up so fast. We had a table and bench set that Denny's dad made for oldest daughter. It was gorgeous. Used it with the cousins and youngest daughter. I kept hanging on to it. Finally gave it to a family my oldest daughter babysat the two boys. They loved it. And I couldn't believe it, but they brought it to my youngest daughter when she had the twins. It was still in wonderful shape and they and their cousins ate at it during family dinners. They sold it in a garage sale last year and I'm still nostalgic about it. But the twins are now going to be juniors in high school. I just hope it went to a loving family.

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    1. What an awesome story. Wouldn't it be cool if it someday came back to you.

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  2. I am a mush pot. I don't want to let go of any of the kid's special toys. Sigh.

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    1. I've kept his Winnie the Pooh stuffed bear. Every once in a while he still goes and gets it. And, he packs it when we go on trips.
      I'm afraid that I have a latent hoarder gene, so I get rid of stuff. If you saw my house, you see way too much stuff.

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  3. I boxed up their baby books and blankies

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    1. We kept Goodnight Moon and Hush Little Puppy. That one was the book my husband would read to him. Me, I read him everything ;) I have one blankie, too.

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  4. When my youngest son left for college, I finally braved the silence and started to clean his room. When I found the cigar box full of green army men, I put it back where I found it and left the room in tears. I don't know when he took them, but I'm pretty sure his sons play with the little plastic soldiers now.

    Our family has a revolving train table. The original owner will be 18 in July and the present user is four. I hope the table never goes away. :-)

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    1. Green army men attack me when I walk through the lego room. They clone each other LOL. I love the visual of you finding the box.

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  5. When Kathy came to us at four years old, she had a purple plaid skirt her foster mother had made. She loved it! I have no particular domestic skills, but as she grew the following year, I moved the button to give her more room and let down the hem, covering the obvious fold where the old hem at been with coordinating trim. By the time she was six, there was nothing we could do to make it fit. She was brokenhearted. I selfishly wanted her to let go of the past and move ahead with me, but the skirt was so important to her and I knew it wasn't fair to expect her to forget any part of her life. So, I suggested she wear the skirt as a cape. It worked well for one autumn, then she finally put it away. I guess we all take forward steps in our own time.

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    1. Does she still have it? I had a favorite brown dress. I must have been four. I still remember it.

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  6. I have boxes of stuff I can't bear to part with! I figure I have to have some grandchildren someday! I loved when we would go to visit my parents and my mom would pull out some old toys from when my brothers and I were younger. My kids thought they were so cool. I hope my grandkids think the same thing :)

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    1. Okay, so we all are hoarders! LOL
      I still have Mike's Biscuit books.
      Grandpa has my husband's old toys and Don, my husband, won't let Mike play with them LOL

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  7. My daughter's large box of Barbie dolls with furniture, cars and other Barbie doll accessories. I remember she would invite her friend Nicole over when they were little and my entire living room would be covered with Barbie dolls, doll furniture, RV's and cars. It was so sweet watching them play with those dolls for hours on end, and they would clean up every bit of it when it was time for Nicole to go home. Yup...can't part with it. But then again, I kept every pair of my daughter's shoes from when she was a baby to her toddler years. Sometimes I pull them out and shed a tear at those tiny little shoes.

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  8. Laurie,
    I've taken a picture of Mike wearing his father's boots ever since he was once month old. I've got the progression on his door. I have one pair of little sandels and they hang under his six month old photo.

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  9. Can you mail me the red chair? I'd have to move the computer desk out of my office for it to fit, but I'm down with that!

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