Are we still telling all the other girls and boys to stop meddling with our toys? They aren’t the same toys we had as kids. They are definitely more expensive and fragile. We take them as seriously as we took our toys when we were little kids, though we are probably less likely to start crying if someone else wants to play with them.
Our toys are what we play with. They aren’t work-related or at least we aren’t paid for playing with them. Grownup toys are expensive. Ever added up the cost of a good camera, batteries, lenses, camera bags, memory cards, software and backup drives for the computer? Just to fix pictures to which we show off for free. Because we love it.
Our toys are priceless. What we do with them has nothing to do with money.
On some level, we are still warning other kids to leave our toys alone. The world changes. We change. Except on some basic level, we stay the same. We used to read different books, but we still read. We write but subjects change. Our level of involvement in our hobbies rises and falls depending on our mood and the season. The involvement is always there, even when we don’t do anything about it for long periods of time.
Is there any area in which we are completely different than we were when we were young? Is there anything — other than work itself — about which we were passionate and about which we have no further interest? I can’t think of anything I loved that is completely gone from my life. I had to give up riding horses and playing piano, but I still love horses and listen to music. When I hear piano music I played, I mentally see the notes on the page and sometimes my fingers dance in the air as I finger invisible keys.
We are who we were forever. We change the garments we wear, but underneath we are the kids who loved dolls and played in the woods, the same kid who loved stickball and wanted to be a movie star.
Some things never change and probably shouldn’t.
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Categories: #gallery, #Photography, Anecdote, Drawings, podcast
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
What a treasure post! I have a list of things I don‘t do anymore. I was super talented in drawing and crafting. I made linocuts and the ‚pictures‘ were a great success as gifts. I had them from our dog and they were treasured. My drawings (water colour and pencils) were really nice. I don‘t do them any more, I don‘t see well enough and I can‘t seem to find the leisure time for any of this.
For many, many years I wrote journals, thoughts, letters to everybody – I still love writing but – again, partly because of poor eye-sight – do so much less than before. I write cards for friends I don‘t see any longer, for birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions, holidays. A love which will never leave me.
Two of my main passions (toys) are reading and photography.
I got a 2x2in square camera from my dad who had it from someone else. It was one of my most prized possessions. With expensive film material, I didn‘t much picture taking and somewhere, somehow, that camera AND the photos got lost. (I moved a lot, maybe it all got lost there). Nowadays, after having ‚gone through‘ several pricey minoltas, I had to settle for the camera in my smartphone and the quality of lenses determined which model I bought…. My photos were and still are good but of course they no longer are material to brag about. Mostly I only discover at home how good or bad my photographic efforts were, when I could enlarge them because I might think I know what I eternallize but the results show something else. I took pics from the grounds in the woods for the little white flowers; they looked like stunning bright white bells in the light, at home it was a dark patch with some pitiful little white dots….
A never ending love is books, books, and books….. When I went through one to two books a week then, next to working, having family, pets, a multitude of other things, I now am able to read a book over several weeks. I have much ‚read to me‘ but it isn‘t the same as holding a book in my hands.
As a child I loved my teddy, more even than my doll. The teddy had a sawdust filled long nose, he was hard-stuffed, not a cuddly toy, a serious item. My dad who was a carpenter and furniture maker too and brilliantly talented, made all our toys. Doll beds with movable inlays for the ‚growing baby‘, shops, a rocking horse, wooden trains and cars…. And it all, including my beloved teddy, disappeared one day and when we kids didn‘t find stuff any more, we were told that they were given to children who needed them more than we did! It still makes me sad now to think of those tremendous deceptions then.
There could be said so much more, but I have become very modest with my ‚toys‘, my heart no longer wishes for new things, it‘s mind over matter and a thankful heart for what I still can enjoy. SORRY to have taken over so much of your comments space.
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I didn’t get a lot of toys as a kid. I got my big brother’s leftovers, but GI Joe wasn’t really my thing then or now. I got ONE very special doll for my birthday every year. When I was older and had a little money, I bought Ginny dolls which were only a few dollars (naked). The dolls were cheap. The clothing wasn’t, but my mother sewed and occasionally made something for the little dolls. She didn’t like sewing for them because they were so small and she was far-sighted. Close vision wasn’t easy.
I took piano lessons because when it turned out my brother was tone deaf — and at four I could play all his lessons by ear — I got plunked at the piano. Piano was a love-hate relationship. I loved playing. I resented giving up so much play (and reading) time to practice. As the years went on and I got better, more time was practicing until between homework and piano practice, I didn’t get out much.
I doodled incessantly as a girl and eventually I began to paint — and sold all of them. I tried to buy a few back, but no one would sell me one, so at some point I had none of my original paintings. By then I’d moved to photography, but I would have like to keep ONE painting though I’m sure it would have disintegrated by now. Like you, I’ve moved a lot and many things just disappeared. Forgotten? Stolen? Lost? I will never know for sure, but they are absolutely gone.
I don’t see nearly as well as I used to and have to depend very much on autofocus. The results from my phone are never good enough for me. There are people who are very successful using phones, but I think they must have a better camera in their phone than I have in mine. To me, the pixel count is simply too low and the graininess ruins the pictures — assuming I at least took pictures where I could see everything. Telephones are not really cameras even though you can take pictures with them. That square camera you had was probably a Rolleiflex. They are to this day selling for a lot of money, depending on the type of lens. I had a Leica (an M3) with three lenses — and it disappeared. Even after 60 years, it remains the best camera and lenses I ever owned. But if I still had it, the cost of film and processing would stop my using not to mention its lack of a light meter and autofocus. I miss it, but I know I would have long since sold it. I’m years past manual cameras, though I often envy the results people get who still use them.
We remain who we were. We have to some twisting and shifting to keep in touch with things we can’t do. The hardest was not being able to play piano. My wrists will not allow it. Sixty-eight years of pounding piano, typewriters and computer keyboards have done them in.
I guess we can’t be the kids we were, but we can keep in touch with all the pieces, even if we can’t use them the same way.
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I cringe when Roomie wants to play with my toys, especially the desktop computer. I am sure he feels the same about his stuff. It’s a thing.
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Don’t mess with my toys or I’ll start crying and my mommy will yell at you!
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Rich, yes, it is a THING. We share lots of stuff around here. But we are in the autumn of our years and values seem to have fixed themselves without much pouting and whining. I think, and it may be petty, I would like to watch “my stuff” on the tube. It’s the same dilemma I had as a kid. I wanted to watch all those TV westerns. But they were not on the channel Mom was devoted to – the channel with the familiar stars and plots. Lucy, Ed Sullivan, Sgt. Bilko, Arthur Godfrey and all the folks who entertained on the “Tiffany” network aka CBS. Mom referred to that network as “MY CBS”. No arguing with that. These days, there’s not much to get me foaming at the mouth. The TV shows and stars all look alike. My candy store – the channels with VINTAGE flicks and stars who I followed for decades. Not everyone shares my affection for watching something seemingly for the one zillionith time. For me, it’s like sharing time with old friends.
Marilyn shares her prized cameras with me and tutors me along the way. There’s no competition about our car. We don’t have much love for driving anymore. The days of MY rag tops are long gone so there is no worry about WHO is driving except for Duke who may be very alpha about dog treats.
It’s nice not to be needy about stuff. It’s just stuff.
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You are possessive about remote controls. I think that’s a “guy thing.” You can’t control what’s shown, but you can control what we watch. Lucky for you I don’t care nearly as much about TV as you do. As long as it isn’t gory, violent, or offensive in some other way, I don’t care. Mostly, I don’t care.
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It is mostly old series and film noir around here. I watch some mini-series from other countries sometimes.
I like a lot of the old half hour Westerns.
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We watch the same stuff. We are currently between shows. So far none of the new stuff has really “spoken” to us.
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I guess I like some of the foreign series and movies because they are different. PBS always has good series on Saturday and Sunday nights. I stream some other mini-series too.
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I love this Marilyn! And you’re so right in all you say about our grown-up toys and how we feel about them. You got me thinking, is there anything I loved doing as a child that I don’t love now? I don’t think so, although I do some things less (reading) and some more (writing, due to this blogging thing!) I don’t play tennis any more but I still enjoy watching it, and I still like to swim. The main changes in how I play are due to technology. As a child I didn’t have computers of course, nor the internet, so how I consume media has changed – I read e-books, I write with a computer. And while I no longer draw, which I enjoyed as a child but wasn’t very good at, I now create pictures with my camera and software, which I believe I do rather better 🙂
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When I really thought about it, I realized that my styles change, but my fundamental taste has not changed. I can’t ride horses anymore, but I love them and will watch movies about horses all day long and twice on Sunday. I have always written and always will. I’ve been taking pictures since my son was a toddler. He turn 55 in a few weeks and I’m still taking pictures. I collected dolls from childhood to finally turning them over to a museum. I still have a few, but the majority are gone. I collect art and when my wrist is working (rarely, these days) I can draw. I loved animals always and still do. I always loved being in the country — and here we are. In the country. I don’t read as much, but I listen more. I’m the same me and it’s amazing how LITTLE I’ve changed.
I still protect my toys. You other kids can buy your own. These are MINE!
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Toonsarah, these days I am enjoying old books from my library. Books not read for 40 years. Most are about movies, Bios about people gone but not forgotten and old sports tomes about the Brooklyn Dodgers – those fabled “Boys of Summer” who enriched so many summers of my youth. Oh, there’s music. The “American Song Book” music which beckons music that had rich lyrics and melodies.
I could go on forever but I think I am lulling folks to sleep.
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this is all so true. I love being outside as much as I can, walking in the woods, in the water, to our city, anywhere, my fav place to be. exactly as it was when I was a child, my favorite place to be. p.s. I had to small. black, magnetic scottie dogs that were a treasure to me, they were twins, and their bases were magnetic so I could stick them together. very simple toys but I really loved them.
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I was surprised when I realized how much I am the same little girl, but a much older little girl. I had never thought about it, but when I looked at my life and my taste, it has changed remarkably little in all my years. And I take VERY good care of my toys and get really upset at people who don’t care for theirs. How can you not take care of your toys?
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So true Marilyn. I know that I am still the same kid.
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“Inside every old person is a child who wonders what happened.” I forget who said it.
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Tas, some of us are still “That kid”.
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I have way too many toys…!
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Yes, we all do. And our kids don’t want them. Having passed along my dolls and had my heart rebuilt for a second time, I’m taking the time to be at peace with the stuff I’ve still got — which is WAY too much.
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No! You CANNOT have too many toys, Pilgrim. NEVER!
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I love this post. And, great photos of you both.
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It actually took me a week to put it together. First I bought a new copy — I seem to have lost the old one — of “A Child’s Garden of Verse.” I saw this poem. It made me laugh because it wasn’t really a poem for children. I was a very adult poem for children.
I got the idea of a post about us and our toys, then I began to wonder what are the toys? Then I took pictures of them, processed them, saved them. THEN I started writing. Stopped and got to thinking. Then I went back to writing. Finally — a week later — I thought it was good enough to post. I will probably rewrite it a couple of more times, but I think it’s most of what I wanted to say.
What really WAS interesting was how little my toys and tastes have changed. They are more expensive and fragile, but they are an advanced model of what I started to love as a child. I had not realized how LITTLE I’ve changed. Then I wondered if other people felt the same way.
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Life, nice pics but who stole my hair?
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