When I think of toys the first thing I think of is Santa Clause, When you are a kid and see something you “really need to have” the first thing the parents would say is “wait and see if Santa brings it to you.” and sure enough on Christmas morning there will be your prized possession along with all the other things you “really need to have.” Some of them you only play with that day and they end up in the bottomless toy box, a few others will take awhile longer to be tossed aside and then there are the one’s that will last your whole lifetime. Some will be passed down to your kids and grandkids. What makes these toys more special then the others? A few toys I have know some people to keep from their childhood is a bear one received while in the hospital, a beloved doll, cap guns, a hot wheels garage, a favorite Barbie, a sports car they never took out of the package, and their entire collection of care bears . A few toys I have known to be passed down to people’s children is a tin dollhouse, a plastic doll, a stuffed raccoon, and a bag of marbles. So why is it that these where the toys selected out of hundreds to keep and pass on? The bear that was kept was a gift from a very close friend while they were sick in the hospital, the beloved doll was a doll that had a cloth body, no hands, or hair and everybody else said it was the ugliest thing they had ever seen, but to this girl it was her “baby” she played with it everyday. Eventually she opened and ran a successful daycare center. Cap guns and marbles are always fun and last forever. The hot wheels garage was a favorite. This boy played with it non stop then opened up his own garage when he became an adult. The Barbie was a way for the girl to be older then she really was. She pretended Barbie would go out at night. She would fix her hair, put makeup on her and dress her how she thought she would dress. The plastic doll and stuffed raccoon are little memento’s that they grew up with and just liked to keep hold of them. The sports car that was left in the package is a very rare, extremely sought collectible. The care bear collection is still being added to, to this very day. People are like little factories we accumulate things and we going through a selection process of what to keep and what to throw out. The things we decide to keep help to mold us into who we become. The first thing we are given in life is a toy. Usually a teddy bear that sings us to sleep and that is what we like to have as we grow into a constantly changing world. It is our one thing that does not change. It is our time machine. To go back to a place that felt safe and secure.