Thomas

Some milestones are big events.  Marked on the calendar, anticipated, photographed and remembered.

Others just kind of quietly happen, sliding under the radar and are hardly noticed.

Like today, as I'm organizing and cleaning my 7 year old's room I realize its been months since those wooden trains were touched.  Time to pack them away and store them for another day.  And then it hits me... those trains have been in use for over a decade by one kid or another of mine.  I remember a toddler's chubby little hand carrying "Henry" the green engine everywhere he went; who shed round, wet tears at the sight of the locked veterinary office where Henry was forgotten and who beamed with great delight the next morning when that green train with the lopsided smile was waiting for him patiently on the receptionists counter.  I remember long and involved train track making escapades, under and around the kitchen table, across the linoleum until the track ran out.  And just as long and involved conversations between trains and children as adventures were spun out of wood and imagination on rainy afternoons.

So, now those trains and train tracks are packed up and ready for storage.  And I can't believe I'm actually thinking about future grandchildren as I pack those trains away - one toy that can't go to a friend or consignment sale, one toy that will sit and wait until the day one of my children brings their child over to Grandma's to play and a new generation of chubby little hands and creative little spirits build train tracks and spin stories on my kitchen floor.