A Childhood Toy

I grew up in the advent of battery-powered toys. This meant that any trip to Toys-R-Us bombarded me with electronic dolls, glowing keyboards and most of all, loud everythings. But my favorite toy belonged in the office of one of my dad's coworkers. I'll be honest, I was an adorable kid. So when I saw the wooden train set that rested on his desk, I asked to borrow it. He told me that not only could I borrow it, but that it needed decoration and I was just the girl to do it. Unfortunately for the train, the only markers he had were plum, dark green and red. By the time my work was complete, the train looked like it had been in a train wreck. Plum, dark green and red are just not colors conducive to designing a pretty train.

That train connected to three different cars and I had the best time filling the cargo part with everything I could find. For Valentine's Day, I put a bunch of Hershey Kisses in the car and ran the train down the hall to everyone's office.

Sometimes, one of the wheels would get stuck up with carpet. This would result in an emergency trip to the train doctor (the secretary) who would use a letter opener to dig it out. After thanking her, the train was on its way.