I think it’s safe to say that if it weren’t for all the toy cars my parents gave me when growing up as a child that I wouldn’t be a mad car collector today. All the other girls my age throughout elementary school got cute dolls with pink dresses to play with, but not me. I was given red hotrods and yellow trucks, blue racing cars and green off-road buggies.
My toy car collection was much more extensive and cared for than my current car collection today. Back then I had special plastic cases for my favorite toy cars and displayed them on collector’s shelves. Even when I became a teenager and went out partying with the other teenage girls on the weekend, I may have stopped playing with my toy car collection but I still admired them in their cases every day.
It wasn’t until, when I was in my early twenties, friends of the family gave birth to a boy so I donated the toy cars to them knowing my collection could live another life. I lost interest in toy cars, but that was also around the time I purchased my first real car, a beater that puttered worse than a blind man at a putting range!
Today my car collection constantly expands and contracts and I know for certain that if I had been playing with dolls as a girl instead of toy cars that this expensive habit of mine probably wouldn’t exist. I’m glad it does exist though, because I love cars and I love collecting them. And I owe it all to my parents giving me toy cars as a child!
Thanks Mom and Dad!