Putting Away Childish Things

I've been a Star Wars fan since I was 7 years old, so I've been a fan for almost 35 years. In that 35 years I managed to pick up an absolute arse load of Star Wars toys. Some of it I've lugged around since 1977, some of it is newer, but all of it (or close to all of it) has got to go.

There comes a time when it is just simply time to be done with the past. I have reached that point. Oh, part of me still believes I'm making a huge mistake selling this stuff off...why am I not saving it all for my kids to have when I shuffle off? The answer is simple - they are just a bunch of toys. Sure, some of them are carrying around the stink of nostalgia and my desperate attempts to cling to the remnants of my childhood...but at the end of the day they are just toys....plastic parts molded and painted by slave labor somewhere in China. And I'm kind of done trying to recapture whatever magic toys brought to my life when I was 7 years old.

I would be kidding if I said that Star Wars wasn't important to me though. It was. I didn't always see eye to eye with my younger brother about a lot of things. We are two very different people, but we always had Star Wars. We spent hours as kids playing with the toys, making up adventures for Luke and Han as they battled the evil galactic empire. No matter how we fought or argued we knew we could always play with our Star Wars toys and get along. It was bigger then the differences in our personalities (the main difference being he had a personality, I didn't really develop one until 1984, but that's a different story), it was something we could do together...even when he had Han gun down Vader, a bit of revisionist history on par with the ending of 'Inglorious Bastards'.

Now, I could prattle on about how I saw myself as Luke Skywalker, yearning for more with my mind on the future, the horizon....adventure, excitement...a Jedi craves not these things...and neither should a 41 year old man, at least not through toys. Like the title of this post says, I'm putting away childish things...and turning a buck or two while at it.

So, why not leave the stuff for the girls? I'll break it down for you, countdown style!

One - I have a lot of stuff. A lot. A couple of plastic tubs in the garage, a couple in the house, an entire closet and shelves filled with action figures and vehicles...I'm running out of room to store it in. Also, this stuff is a pain in the ass to lug around and I don't want them dealing with that when I'm not around to help them with it. Plus, do I want my kids looking back on my life and remembering me through toys? I don't think so. The money this stuff brings in is going to help pay for soccer camps, gymnastics, etc. I'll be using the old to help my kids create new memories for themselves.

Two - I might keep a couple of 'heirloom' pieces, but that's it. One item for each kid that I have actually kept with me since 1977. Those items have some sentimental value, but that does have a price tag...so if some collector in Wisconsin hits the 'But It Now' link then we'll be looking for a new sentimental item...like my unpaid eBay invoices. The object here is to get rid of this stuff, so even keeping a couple of pieces isn't etched in stone or molded plastic.

Three - Maddy is growing up so fast and pretty soon she is going to want her own room. The Better Half would like to keep all three girls sleeping in the same bedroom like a bunch of hillbillies until they move out. Part of me does as well since that means they will be sleeping in the infamous castle bed longer...and there's no way they have slept in that thing long enough to justify the herculean amount of effort it took to construct and paint that monstrosity. However, I'm a realist and Maddy has already been poking around about getting her own room for 6 months now...she has gone so far as to pick out paint colors and bedding from PB Teen (we'll find something similar at Target for 1/2 the price...god bless ya, Target!). The Waltons bedroom setup is only going to last a little while longer...

Four - I think it's absolutely ridiculous that I have an entire room in our house devoted to my Star Wars collection. I'll be 42 years old in January and when I think of my dad at 42 he didn't have time to be collecting toys...he was busy getting stuff done, being productive, acting like an adult. Putting 3 3/4" action figures in protective cases is hardly adult like...and I think if one of the surviving members of WWII's 'Band of Brothers' saw this room they would run me through with a bayonet after punching me in the face. They fought the Germans for this?

The decision has been made, I want this stuff outta here. I've already made a few sales on eBay and will be posting more until it's all gone...but don't bother looking for any Princess Leia stuff from me, I gave all the Leia toys to the girls (along with some Luke, Han, and Lando figures) to play with so they can make their own memories...you see, that's the trouble with the past, it gets heavy after a while...it's best to live in the moments being created all around you each and every day...for everything else, there's eBay.