My Favorite Toy

a story about innocence lost

Did you ever have a toy when you were younger that was just your most favorite toy in the whole world? You played with it and played with it. You would play with it with all your other toys, even if it wasn't like the others. For example if your favorite toy was a G.I. Joe and you played with him with Ninja Turtles, or your favorite toy was a My Little Pony, and you played Barbie with it. Whatever or however you played with it, you made sure it was safe and secure when you put away your toys for the day... it may have even been on the very top of the toybox. Maybe you even took it to bed with you when you slept. It was important to you.

Then one day, an accident happened, maybe you did it, maybe a neighborhood friend did it... all you knew is it was done. Your toy was broken. You may have cried... even loudly. You may have been angry, or in shock. You probably took your toy to your mother or father and begged for them to fix it. But in the end, you knew... no rubberband, no kind of tape, and no amount of glue would ever make the toy complete and whole again. It would never be able to bend and articulate like it once did... its hair would never shine as bright. You try to play with it as you once did, but it's just not the same.

Eventually, your toy gets lost under the bed, or at the bottom of the toybox. You grow up, and forget about the toy. You go off to college, and one day when you're home for the holidays, your mother or father asks you to go though some belongings in order to get ready for a garage sale or to just make room for other boxes. You open up a box marked, "junk" in sharpie, and begin to go through it. There are papers and awards and trophies. Eventually you find the toy that was once your favorite, still with the rubberband or glue or tape on it. You take it out of the box and set it aside, not willing to give it away or sell it. You take it with you, and now as an adult, you put your toy on a shelf, maybe in a case, or on a mantle. You do this as a reminder of simpler and happier times, knowing they will never be the same again. Times when innocence was all you were, and adventure was in your imagination and just outside your front door. And your favorite toy was your best friend, and your best friend was right at the top of your toybox or on your bed, eagerly waiting for you to come play.

The end.