Dear Optimists,
If you read this blog at all, you already know I have a bit of an affinity – oh heck let’s call it what it is – an obsession with Legos. Well, this past weekend I had a $20 gift card to Toys-R-Us and wanted the cool Creator Log Cabin and was in the aisle looking for it when I saw a father/son by the little bagged figures. Do you know them? They’re in a bag and you have no idea which one you get. It’s fun and I definitely buy them when I see them on sale.
So I walk into the aisle and this father and his son have about twenty of the bags laid out on a shelf. I quickly figure out they’re going for the Feel the bag and guess which one is in it theory (which seldom works…I was trying to get the monkey trainer for the longest time but apparently the girl-hair part feels like a monkey), so Elle and I joined them. I wanted her to see the new series (she pretends to care because she loves me).
I said to Elle, “I really want the robot.” The little kid, who had thick glasses, looked up. The dad laughed. “That’s the one we’re trying to get!” “I can understand that…it’s the best one.” “We also want the leprechaun” the kid said to me. We had a little talk with them and I admitted it took luck to get the monkey trainer (yes, I did finally get it) and we had a nice talk with the kid and his dad. It really warms my heart, seeing a moment like this. The dad and son, working together and chasing down these toys, it’s one of those memories the kid will have forever. I hope to be that dad someday.
They ended up in line behind us as I was buying the log cabin (yup! got it!) and as we walked to our car I heard a voice say “Excuse me!” from the van next to our car. I look over and it’s the kid in the back seat.
“We got the robot!” he yelled. His dad and I both laughed, and I said “That’s awesome. I’m jealous now!”
What a trip to the toy store, huh?
Love,
Den
dearoptimists.wordpress.com 
That’s a really nice story to read, Den. Lego is always a great time for bonding. And the robot looks awesome! ^^
I love trying to figure out which figure is in what bag by doing the ‘feely’ thing. My boyfriend collects the Mega Bloks Mini Marvel figures, with me helping him pick out the bags. He claims that I have a lucky hand as I always pick out the ones he needs.
Good luck in getting your own Lego robot ^w^
That’s so cool that one of our readers has a similar deal going on! I also just found the Doctor Who minifigures and my girlfriend bought me a few. I love them too. Maybe next time I need a specific figure I’ll ask you for help!
I’ll send over some luck to you now *beams of luck* All done! ^.^
The Doctor Who ones are fun, my brother collects them. He also collects those Lego figures and just recently finished building the Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon. There’s also a bookcase in our living room dedicated to Lego sets ^^
They have little braille-type dots on the bottom of each package. If you compare them to one another, you’re at least guaranteed not to get the same two.
Wow! I never knew that. But I doubt I would be able to remember every one of the dot patterns.
It’s most useful if you’re buying several at a time. I learned because I bought my son one. His first ever, and he was so excited. And he got the fitness instructor. He was a good sport about it, but I vowed to do better next time!
Nice story. My 6 year old is so crazy for lego. His ADHD self can spend hours calmly working on a lego project. It is cool to see.
Wow that says a lot! Does he work on the sets or does he create his own buildings?
Usually, he works on sets, but he does some of his own building as well.
Best day of my life: chilling to Pink Floyd while building a 3-foot long ship out of Legos, complete with forecastle, keel, main mast, etc, the summer after I took maritime archaeology in college. Wish I had taken a picture of that masterpiece!
You didn’t photograph it? Tragedy! I would have loved to have seen it. The Lego Store near us has this HUGE Star Wars ship and we stop and look at it every time we pass, like little kids pressed up against the glass.
Legos…we are all about Legos in our house. I love them. It’s so great that you love them too.
Cheers,
Louise
We are too! I have painters here today and half of them would rather play with the Star Wars Legos I have out. Believe it or not they belong to my fiancee. Mine are Harry Potter 🙂
Your description of this moment is to a tee! I used to go with my mom…you know to buy the packs of stickers for sticker book collections, BUT you can’t feel for those ones…and you rarely got new ones to put in your book but it was all worth it.
Oh wow! I used to collect stickers too! Do you still have yours?
I do… I recently had to clean out my parents basement and I had a Spice Girls one as well as a Backstreet Boys one lol…pretty LAME.