Regrets

Regrets, we all have them. Not telling that one girl you like her, not getting that one thing you wanted or getting it while not really having the money for it. Maybe not saying that one line during an argument. Or going or not going to this party or concert. Or an ugly and/or misspelled tattoo.

Having regrets isn’t bad. It’s part of your live. I too did not tell that one girl I liked her but that’s ok. That was years ago and I now have a beautiful wife and we have a beautiful daughter.
I too did buy something I couldn’t really afford at the time and I skipped a concert or 2 because of various reasons. But in the end things turned out fine and the world didn’t end. I also have tattoos but the only regret is I don’t have the money to get more.

Lately there is one thing that I start to regret. As a kid there where 2 toys I spent most of my days with. One was Lego. Me and my brother made amazing things. We build entire farms with tractors and machinery. I made the entire Formula 1 grids. Teams, drivers and pitcrew. Of course almost every start involved crashes and I had to rebuild several cars before “the next race”.

The other toy was G.I. Joe. A lot more expensive than Lego and you cannot build your own toys. But you could recreate the cartoon or create your own adventures. Or if you was, like me you created adventures based on the tv show Tour of Duty.

Over the years I collected quite a collection. Today I cannot exactly remember which action figure or vehicle I had or a friend of mine had but I do know I had quite a few.

I always wanted the Skystriker XP14F based on the Grumman F14 Tomcat, made famous in the movie Top Gun, but sadly I never had the money for it.

Skystriker XP14F

When I did have money it was replaced by the Conquest X-30 which was loosely based on the Grumman X-29 prototype.

Conquest X-30

Some of my favorite action figures where the following:

Muskrat

and

Alley Viper

They raced around my bedroom on the Tiger Paw quad.

Tiger Paw

I spend countless hours with these and my Lego’s and then came the day I stopped playing with it. First it was collecting dust and then me and my mom decided to clean up my room and put away all the toys I stopped playing with.
My mom “confiscated” the Lego’s. One they she would have grandchildren and they can play with it she said. And right she was. Hailey is still too young for it but in a few years she will build things and spend countless hours with it.

But my GI Joe’s was a different story. I was a big boy now and I didn’t play with GI Joe’s anymore. I grabbed a garbage bag and threw them all away. All of them. Including every vehicle I had. My mom asked me if I was sure and I was…. at the time.
Forward ~20 years and now I regret that decision. Not that I want to play with them today but I now realize I threw away a part of my youth. I can go on eBay and get them all again but it’s not my GI Joe. My GI Joe’s ended up in a garbage incinerator. Buying them again means I’m getting someone else’s memories.

I don’t blame my mom for not stopping me back then, it was my decision. However if Hailey and/or her future brother or sister wants to throw out toys they stopped playing with I might decide differently for them so that 20 years later they don’t have to regret their decision.

PS: If one of my friends read this I’m sure he’s cringing right now. I think he’s more a Transformers guy but still… You know who you are 😉