In the Lakewood Observer's early days, I wrote a regular "Pulse of the City" column for the paper. Nowadays, I tend to write only whenever the spirit moves me. I recently had a fun flashback experience that caused me to remember a favorite toy. With all the political hoopla going around lately, I thought I might provide a bit lighter topic here. I decided to post this piece here on the "Deck, so that perhaps you might like to tell us about your favorite childhood toy?
I'll be the first to admit it. I'm a big-time sucker for nostalgia. I liked old stuff when I was a kid, and now, if I see something like I once owned, (or always wanted) at a flea market or in some garage sale, it sometimes comes right back home with me.
No doubt about it, in our country at least, the nostalgia craze is big business, and while admittedly, not everyone had wonderful childhood experiences and memories, I certainly did, and to see something at a yard sale that was just like I had as a child brings back precious memories indeed.
Now these days, I do try very hard not to be too smitten with the trappings of materialism. After all, the Good Book gives us an allotment of three score and ten years, and I've already lived three score and five of those years! I am also well aware of the fact that caskets don't come with luggage racks, but that point made, there's just a terrific feeling when one walks up to a flea market vendor's stall, and sees a glimpse into the past.
Take this past week, for example. I was walking our local flea market at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds, when a large box on a vendor's table caught my attention. It was labeled "Cox Thimble Drome Stuka", and that box did indeed contain a large black plastic German Stuka dive bomber model, complete with its .049 engine and flight controls. The Cox people over the years made a wide variety of motorized planes and cars that I am sure started many young aviators and engineers on the path to success in life. For years too, I had raced Cox slot racers at a local track with my friends, but these flying aircraft were especially intriguing to me, although I had not owned one...
...at least until Mom and Dad bought me a Stuka. The Stuka, in real life, was a feared German dive bomber in the Second World War. All the neighborhood kids played WWII in our street's bushes, much to the chagrin of our flowerbed-loving friends and neighbors. As a child WWII history buff, when I saw that Stuka in a nearby hobby shop, I wanted it so badly, and although my parents were far from wealthy, they somehow found the money to get it for me, although dear reader, as I will shortly explain, I did not have it very long.
Back at the flea market this week, I chuckled when I read the enclosed precautionary instructions regarding flying that model plane. Some models fly easier than others do, and the Cox people were careful to inform us that the Stuka was not a beginner's model to fly. Even real Stukas in WWII were not the most aerodynamic aircraft out there. They were relatively slow and fairly easy prey for enemy fighters, at least until they did what they were designed to do...dive-bomb. At that point, the Stuka was in its element as a deadly accurate weapon of war.
Still, how tough could it REALLY be to fly that thing? So Dad and I went out to a nearby field. I had even practiced going in circles so that I would not get too dizzy while flying that string-tethered plane. It was a snap to get its engine started, and in seconds, my Stuka was airborne! The Cox company had even provided a bombing target on the bottom of the box!
I think I did about 5 circles with the Stuka when things started to go wrong. I became seriously dizzy (I've had inner ear problems all my life) and in that dizziness, my control arm raised up a bit too far. That dive bomber then decided to do what dive bombers do best, and in a glorious and terrifying way, my Stuka went into a dive and hit the ground at full speed. Although I missed the target, I'm sure that there are Stuka pieces and parts embedded in that ground to this day! Not sure whether I ever found the little red plastic bomb either!
Obviously, destroying a cherished toy some 50 years ago, (and right in front of Dad too, who had been helping me to get it aloft!) was something that I had buried deep in the dark recesses of my mind. Finding the model Stuka at the flea market brought all of that back, only now from the perspective of a much older, (but perhaps, only marginally more mature
) man. Bottom line, I so appreciate the countless sacrifices that my dear late parents made for me, and the love and patience that they extended to me when I made my mistakes. They showed me well how to go on living and growing and learning from both my successes, and failures in life.
Taking a good long look at that antique model Stuka, my eyes welled up, my face got hot, and the tears came in good measure, but then too came a smile and heartfelt gratitude for the wonderful childhood that my parents had so selflessly provided for me.
I did not need to buy it, of course, but the flea market seller happened to be a friend, and he offered me a great deal! (Besides, I was getting those salty tears all over his airplane!) That Stuka came back home with me.
Interestingly too, it only seems to be missing its little red plastic bomb. One guy on the 'net wanted $50 for one, so maybe I'd better go back out to that field and search a little harder!
Don't expect to see me flying this one, however!
Now did you have a cool toy or a fun Lakewood childhood memory that you'd like to tell us about?
Back to the banjo...