Fireflies and Memories

A friend of mine sent me this video and I had a lot of fun watching it and laughing at how many times I thought to myself, "I have one of those too!" 

I so want to be in that room and play with those toys!

Watching this video also made me really nostalgic for LD's childhood. My baby boy is pretty much all grown up now and will be going away to college in less than a year. It really really doesn't seem that long ago that our house was cluttered with Lego creations and action figures, and the back yard looked like a Little Tykes delivery truck had exploded over it.

Of course there are still robots, dinosaurs, planetarium lights, wind up toys and crazy kitschy things in my house today. That's just a part of who I am. But when LD was a little boy I wanted his room to be his own magical place - with clouds in the sky, airplanes flying overhead, faux fireplaces and pretend picture frames, chalkboard walls to draw on, and assorted other whimsical touches.

Clouds on the ceiling, a Kite flying, furry animal masks on the wall and hand puppets on the bed posts. His sheets had to have cowboys on them and his pillow had marching red hens and French numbers. You can also barely see the mobile of the planets that hung from the center of his ceiling.

Tiny chairs, a puzzle rack, planes flying across the ceiling, a lamp that projected rotating stars on his ceiling as he slept, a framed Pinocchio print and a couple of framed vintage Dick & Jane Illustrations. The closet door was chalkboard and the curtains made by Nanna. It doesn't show, but he also had a big rug that was designed to look like streets and highways for his toy cars to drive on.

He wanted a fireplace of his own - just like the one in the living room. RB & I sketched it out with chalk and then painted it all in one afternoon. The little chair I bought when I was only 16 and dreaming about the children I would some day have. The drawer pulls on the little chest were made from tree branches LD picked out in the yard.

He still has a pretty cool room, but now it's filled with bookshelves, comic books and vintage camera equipment - a reflection of his tastes as an almost grown man, rather than the little boy who used to act out storybooks for me every night before bed. It was a precious time, and while I am overwhelmingly proud of the young man he has become, I still kind miss my little boy in Osh Kosh overalls, with his pockets stuffed with Lego's and marbles, who would loudly sing me my favourite songs and dance in my arms.

I miss those times filled with imagination and innocence.

And I really do miss that room.