Opinion : The Old Tonka Truck

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl, who lived in a purple house. She heard stories of how her daddy had always wanted some boys to pal around with. But when he had his little girls, he was content to pal around them instead and he bragged that one day, his girls would know how to tear a car down before they could drive..."

Well, in real life, I never learned how to do a lot with a car, but I still got to hang out a lot with my daddy.

One year at Christmas he gave my sister and I trucks. Yes, I know, something every girl dreams of, a new truck for Christmas.

Well those little trucks were busy. They hauled our Barbies, and our teddy bears, and all of Barbie's furniture, all kinds of barrettes and pony tails, all things a respectable Tonka truck was made to haul.

We played with those trucks for hours. Of course, when we tired of that, I parked my truck carefully in the corner so it wouldn't get scratched.

As all moms do, mom decided she wanted to clean our toybox out and share our toys with the neighbor kids who would appreciate them more than I would.

We said sure she could give our old toys away, we were tired of them.

I DIDN'T know she would be giving away my Tonka truck. I was probably about 10 at the time. She came home feeling pretty good, and I was standing there crying.

She asked what was wrong, and of course I explained that she had given away my truck, which in my mind wasn't one of the old toys, it was my truck!

She offered to go back and get it but I didn't want her to.

I didn't want her to go back and get it, because, well, and the way my little mind was working it went something like this.

Sobbing I said, "I wanted to keep my truck."

Mom: "Do you want me to go back and get it?"

Me still sobbing: "No."

Mom: "Why?"

Me: "Because..." I said, trying to think of how to tell her WHY I didn't want her to go and take it back. I paused and realizing that it wasn't nice to give something and then take it back again it was hard to explain just why, after all, I was a girl, and they had a son who I knew would enjoy it.

But like any momma would do, she went back and rescued my truck.

I still have it today, sitting right next to my curio cabinet with my Raggedy Ann doll and our grandmother's old dishes.

I thought about this today, I see their daddy just died, and while I didn't know him very well, I knew his son, and had talked to his wife, the family was always sweet and kind, and always had a special place in our hearts.

My heartfelt sympathies to you all...