My Favorite Gift

A porch talk about the greatest toy ever made, a little sister, and a piece of my childhood I can never sell.

The attic is where totes and boxes of precious memories go to die. Mementos, trophies, comic books, and toys live for a long time in dusty attics in both cozy cottages and historic mansions from Maine to California.

My parents' attic in eastern Kentucky holds a lot of history. Lincoln Logs from 1979. A few Fisher-Price playsets with most of the original pieces, some figurines even made of wood. One toy stands above everything else on the worn and dusty wooden planks, the Kenner Millennium Falcon. My Millennium Falcon! The iconic spaceship from the movies that everyone loved and wanted for Christmas in the late 70s/early 80s.

The date was April 16, 1980. I was six years old the day my little sister came into the world. I was dropped off in the middle of the night with our neighbors, who were more like grandparents to me.

I knew I was getting a little brother or sister, but did not know what else to think at that age. The next morning I woke up to this gigantic box and it was my gift from my new sister. I can guarantee I tore into it with a combination of euphoria and disbelief. It was the most beautiful thing I had seen in my short six years of life on this planet.

My mom has always been an proponent of the new sibling “buying” a gift for the older sibling as they arrive in this world. After all, my life as I knew it was going to be turned upside down and shaken to say the least. She feels like it softens the blow of the impending upheaval.

At some point in time, I told my parents I wanted more siblings, if it meant I got a toy of this magnitude. We still laugh at that line.

I’ve been reflecting more and more lately about my childhood and my parents for a variety of reasons. Whenever someone asks me about my favorite childhood memory, I grin and tell them this story.

I am not a super fan of the Star Wars series and wouldn’t be the best trivia teammate, but I do love a lot about it. I’m not a collector and am not looking to sell it for a few hundred bucks. The toy means something to me and money isn’t what I am chasing.

It’s not just a cheap, plastic toy that gets tossed to the side after a month or two. It’s part of my childhood and my family’s story of how we came to be.

The legendary Millenium Falcon landed in my hands on the day she was born. I can’t recall the imaginary flights it took, but I am sure it was hundreds and would have made George Lucas proud. Forty-six years later, it’s still the greatest toy I’ve ever owned and she’s still my bratty little sister.

What’s the one toy you still think about?