Making Memories

Frank Scott had been looking forward to tomorrow, a Saturday, for seven years now. His son, Peter, would now be old enough to continue the Scott Family Tradition; the handing down of one of his favorite childhood toys to his children. He was as excited to hand down the toy that had brought him so much joy as Peter was to turn seven.

           His wife, Brandi, knew a few of the toys that Frank had enjoyed when he was a kid. Her mother-in-law had been more than generous with stories about Frank’s younger days, such as the day he had finally solved the Rubik’s Cube for the first time. “He strutted around like he had just figured out the impossible” she had said. But Frank wasn’t talking so Brandi had no idea which toy Peter was going to receive.

           Brandi rose early Saturday morning to make a special birthday breakfast for Peter, he had requested cinnamon french toast and sausage. As she was preparing the batter, Peter walked into the kitchen.

           “Good morning mom” he said.

           “Good morning birthday boy” she beamed back at him. “Do you feel seven now?” she asked.

           “Aww mom, you can’t feel your age.”

           “Give it time Peter, give it time. Once you get to my age, you will have an entirely different view on that.”

           “Hey, where is dad?”

           “He left early to pick up a few things. He’ll be back in time for your birthday breakfast, don’t you worry about that. And speaking of your breakfast, how about you go get cleaned up so you can eat.”

           “Ok, mom.”

           A few minutes later, the sound of the front door opening announced Frank’s arrival home. Carrying a few nondescript bags in one hand, he walked past the kitchen, looking in as he went by.

           “Well, it looks like you had better hurry up and get washed up for breakfast, young man.”

           Peter disappeared down the hall while Brandi began cooking breakfast, filling the kitchen with the aroma of cinnamon french toast.

           An hour later, breakfast was finished and the dishes washed and dried. Frank gathered a few wrapped packages and brought them to the living room for Peter. Looking at the boxes, Peter thought about what his father might have gotten him for his birthday. He really wanted the new PlayStation console that all of his friends had gotten for Christmas this past year. As he looked at the presents, none seemed to be the right size for a PlayStation.

           “Before you begin tearing into things Peter, I have something to tell you first” Frank said. “You are now seven years old and, as is the tradition in the Scott family, I am passing down to you my favorite toy when I was your age.”

           “Ok, dad” Peter said a little unsure, as his mind raced to think of what that might be. He wasn’t sure that either of his parents had any “cool” toys when they were his age. There were basic, early versions of the game consoles that he enjoyed with his friends, but he had no idea what they were or what kinds of games they had. He had seen something called an Atari 2600 once when he was in the attic looking for his Christmas presents.          

           “Here you go” said Frank, a smile on his face reaching both of his ears as he passed a large, rectangular package to Peter. “I hope you have as much fun with it as I did.”

           “Thanks, dad” Peter replied as he began tearing the wrapping paper off. “Oh, it’s…..a train set” he said, the dejection in his voice was obvious.

           “It’s not just a train set, it’s a Lionel Santa Fe train set. This was one of the best available when I was your age.”

           Sitting on the couch, afraid for what might come next, Brandi saw the disappointment in Peter’s face and the complete lack of comprehension in Frank’s. Hoping against hope that there would not be hurt feelings with either of the men in her life, she watched nervously, knowing that she would be consoling at least one of them sooner or later.

           “But dad, it’s still just a train set. You set up the track and it goes in a circle. What is fun about that?”

           “What is fun about that?” Frank said, his voice rising with each word, “I’ll tell you what’s fun about that.”

           “Frank, honey, why don’t you go out for a walk” Brandi said.

           “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”

           As Frank left for what she hoped would be a long walk, Brandi began thinking about the best way to confront the logic of a seven-year-old in this situation. Peter did have a point, it was just a train set and it did go in circles, ovals, or however the track was laid out. For a seven-year-old, how much fun was there in a toy that traditionally gets its most use at Christmas time, which was still months away.

           Frank left the house at a quick pace, better to get the anger he felt brewing out sooner rather than later. Something about walking briskly when he was mad helped the anger to dissipate quicker. He didn’t know why and if he really cared to find out, he could probably search the web and find some over-priced self-help book that would explain it to him.

           As he walked, the purpose in his stride lessened as his frustration eased. Kids today are too caught up in technology, he thought. If there is a power outage that lasts for more than a few minutes, they don’t know what to do with themselves. Where is their imagination and creativity, he wondered? When he got back home, he would sit down with Peter and have a good talk about not just the train set, but also about his dependence on video games for entertainment.

           Finding Peter in his room, a sullen look about him, Brandi said “Would you like to tell me about it?”

           “What’s there to tell mom? I was hoping for the latest PlayStation console and instead, dad gave me his old, used train set. What am I going to tell my friends at school on Monday when they ask what I got for my birthday?”

           “Tell them the truth.”

           “Yeah, that I got a crummy old train set.”

           “Peter, first of all, don’t you think you are being a little hard on your father just because you didn’t get what you wanted? Second, the attitude you have right now is not how your father and I have been raising you. You are basically throwing a tantrum because you did not get what you want. Have you stopped yet to think about how you made your father feel? He chose this particular toy from his past, something that has been very special to him, to give you to.”

           “Oh” Peter said.

           “Yeah, oh is right” Brandi replied. “Come on, let’s go watch a movie.”

           His anger and frustration walked off, Frank returned home and found Brandi and Peter watching Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in the den.

           “Hi dad.”

           “Hi Peter. Listen, there is somewhere that I would like to take you. Would you mind finishing your movie later?”

           “Sure. Where are we going?”

           “It’s another birthday surprise.”

           A brief look of concern crossed Brandi’s face, mouthing “are you sure” to Frank so as not to be heard by Peter.

           With a relaxed smile on his face, Frank just nodded and speaking with his eyes, implored her to trust him.

           Once everyone was in the car and headed to the surprise destination, Frank considered his options to begin his conversation with Peter. He wanted him to understand that while there was nothing wrong with video games, in moderation, they weren’t the end-all means to entertain oneself.

           “Peter, I know you were disappointed in opening my old train set, but I want to explain something to you. You and your friends have a great time playing video games together and everything, but I didn't want to see you have to have video games to make you happy and have fun. There are other things that, at least in my view, are more beneficial to you in the long-term than playing a few video games.”

           “Like what dad? The games are cool, sometimes you get to blow things up and the explosions are really neat!”

           “Well, how about reading a book for instance.”

           “That isn’t much fun.”

           “Why? Because you don’t get to blow things up?”

           “Well, yeah.”

           “Ok, I understand that watching things blow up can be fun to watch but, after you have played a game a few times, you always know what is going to happen, right?”

           “Yes.”

           “Well, what if you had to create the whole scene in your mind, as you see it.”

           “What do you mean?”

           “For example, an author writes about a building being blown up, for construction purposes, let’s say. Now, as you read what the author is telling you, you form a picture in your mind, right?”

           “Yeah, I do.”

           “Ok, well guess what. The picture that you form is different from the picture that your mother or I form reading the same words. Whereas in your game, if your mother or I played the same game, we would see the same scenes you see. No one needs to use their imagination because the scene is being presented to you right on the TV screen.”

           “Where are you going with this” Brandi asked.

           “Ok, I think I understand what you mean dad.”

           They came to a stop outside a large, two-story house in a neighborhood that was unfamiliar to Brandi and Peter. At the curb, there was a mailbox with the name Williams affixed in stick-on letters.

           “Where are we” Brandi asked?

           “This is Bob’s house. You know my co-worker Bob and his wife Sandy; you’ve met them a few times.”

           Bob answered the knock at the door an ushered everyone inside. “Does this have anything to do with what we talked about at work yesterday” Bob asked?

           “Yes, it does. It pretty much went like you thought it might Bob.”

           “I tried to tell you.”

           “I know, I know. I think you have the key here though.”

           “Ok, well, if you and Peter will follow me to the basement, I have something to show Peter.”

           “Aren’t women invited?” Brandi asked with a grin on her face.

           “Of course, of course. Doubters one and all are welcome” Bob responded with a laugh.

           Leading the way, Bob flipped on light switches as they descended the stairs to the basement.

           “Whoa!” exclaimed Peter. “What is that?!”

           “That my son, is what you can do with a model train set when you use your imagination.”

           Before them lay a vast, small scale landscape complete with buildings, cars, trees, bushes, street signs, people and nearly anything else that you could imagine. Running around the entire landscape, past the city and through a tunnel, was a miniature train.

           “Bob has been interested in model trains since he was your age. I was too, when I was your age and still am. I haven’t taken it to the level that you see Bob has though. Take a close look, to build something like this takes a lot of time, energy and patience. The attention to detail that people like Bob put into their layouts is amazing. In fact, Peter, sometimes train layouts like this are used in movies.”

           “No way! Really? This is so cool!”

           “I have to agree” Brandi chimed in, “it looks very impressive when set up like this.”

           “Thank you” Bob said. “One of my favorite parts of model trains is that you can choose whatever era you like, do a bit of reading about the time frame and then you just put your imagination to work and build your layout to match what you see in your mind.”

           “Can we build this at home, dad?”

           “We’ll see, we need to check with the boss first” Frank said with a chuckle and a wink at Brandi.

           “I think maybe we can work something out. This was a nice surprise for him Frank.”

           After a few hours of questions, examination of Bob’s train layout and securing the promise of technical assistance with their own layout, the Scott’s headed home. Both Frank and Peter were happy and excited in their own way at how Peter’s seventh birthday had turned out.