Legos arethe best toy every invented. I remember playing (building) with them when I was a kid, tween, and teenager. They were way cool back then. We had glow in the dark legos….and we made pyramids of all different sizes! Well, we thought it was cool back then. Now, I am amazed at the things my kids build with ‘legos’. These are not your mom’s legos kids….something happened to that toy. I think they got some of the “ooze” from the Ninja Turtle sewer on them. They morphed into something I am pretty sure they use to build the shuttle and space station.

Some things get better with age. Legos are one of them. Chocolate is not. I’m not just talking about that chocolate bar you wanted to hide from your kids so you stuck it up on the fridge and forgot about it ….only to find it had turned white and yucky by the time you found it six months later. No, I’m talking about the ‘new’ old candy bars we buy at the store. They just don’t taste the same. Reese cups used to be my all time favorite. Now, they just taste like chocolatey wax wiped with a bit of tasteless peanut product (no real peanuts were harmed in the making of this product). Its sad really, but the really really sad part is the fact that I still eat them now and them. All the while, lamenting their lack of flavor to my kids who will never know the real goodness of the orignial Reese cup. All the candy from my youth tastes icky. I’m sure it was a giant conspiracy movement….and definitely not the fact that I am older and have more mature tastes. No way.

One of my favorite memories from my childhood is one of me and my father making our own peanut butter cups. The ones at the store were just not big enough for us. We would use the tin pan from a pot pie (yes, washed) and layer chocolate and peanut butter several times to fill it up. It was hard to get it to set up…so we would freeze it of course. (my family froze everything….seriously)  I remember trying to chisel off pieces of our gigantic treat and thinking how awesome it was that we actually did it. It was a special thing me and my dad did. Just us.

Its funny the things we remember. I have lots of disjointed memories from my youth. Most of the things I remember are not traumatic or eventful…they are just days that seem to stick out for some reason. I remember flying ants and standing in the corner. I remember my awesome doll that could actually have it’s hair fixed…Cathy Quick Curl? I remember my mom and her friend sitting under a blanket to watch tv because they were cold…eating ice cream. I remember stuff, but it’s like I am remembering a movie I watched long ago. I am disconnected from the person in the stories. Its not me, but I know her better than anyone. Sometimes I miss that dorky kid with the oh so small problems.  Life moves fast and throws a lot of curve balls at you. There are days I want to just sit out an inning or two and catch my breath. But then, I think about the memories I am still making, every day, and I realize I don’t want to miss a thing….cause I said so.