Stardate 1987ish - 2002 Age 18-30ish
John Cougar Mellencamp... or John Cougar... or "Juh" as Weird Al predicted he'd soon be called, wrote the song Small Town without visiting the fair burg of Warrenton, GA. However, he described it to a tee. I can breathe in a small town.
It was exciting enough going monthly to Augusta and seeing traffic lights. (You think I'm lying there was no traffic light in Warrenton when I was young, now they have a whopping 2). Also you could get fast food that was widely available in other regions of the country and advertised on television. They did not, however, have stations that pumped the gas for you. Augusta also had in early days the glory of the Toy Box toy store, then the short lived and annoyingly advertised TON'S OF TOYS store. Finally Augusta got a Toys R Us, and it was a great place in the mid 80's to see orange price stickered boxes of plastic joy.
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You boys know that's
violatin' yer probation! |
The ultimate trip came when you went to CAPTIAL CITY as them Duke boys referred to it. Terminus. The ATL. The City of...ATLANTA. When I graduated highschool in 1989 I headed off to Georgia Tech to achieve my diploma in graduating. On I-20, just inside the perimeter, a brown topped, pearly white stalwart stood... the Southeast Atlanta Toys R Us. It had been in operation since who knows when. Carbon dating of the chipped linoleum puts it being built somewhere close to the Apostle Paul's 12th birthday.
There were only a few times in the mid 80's when I would get to stop here. Mainly, my good friend Jeremy and I would hit the Augusta one. We went in his mom's station wagon or late '80's Bonneville until I was 16. I'd drag him over there after rambling through the KB toys (and finding nothing), going to BOTH record stores, and hitting the food court for Chick Fil A. I loved those days. But, when I started going to college in Atlanta, I'd always pull off the interstate on my Friday trips home. This more than magical Toys R Us. There I could be Teen Fan of Lego and no one knew me. I loved those days.
Having a bit of age on it, a large nerdless population surrounding it, and big mall beside it, this Toys R Us was a magical portal of a decade of the brick. I remember in 1989 being able to find sets from the early '80s. Classic classics shoved back in the shelves and forgotten. OH THE BRICK I GOT... and the Classic Space Fig packs. Dang.
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| Tyco phone, the Mega of the '80s. |
Today LEGO is in the front aisle at Toys R Us with pride and signs hanging from the ceiling. Back then it was stuin the back on the isle opposite the preschool toys. *shudder* I still feel the icy stare of Bert and Ernie as they cast judgement upon me whilst I drooled over the Futuron Monorail. My secret obsession with the brick was deep. I even pondered the traitorous act that was "paying $50 bucks for the Tyco brick phone." They had it in the glass case. You know the one. I looked at it with cartoon angel on one shoulder and a trident carrying devil on the other. Don't give in, it's evil.
Week after week I went by. After the early years of college, LEGO stayed with me but I stopped less and less at the Toys R Us. Mostly because I didn't go home as much, some because I didn't have the time to imagine and build the possibilities I wanted. I went there for the Ice Planet line, and I think I got some Unitron there. But, by that time there were other places to shop, other duties calling me, and the Creator had shown me in '94 what my life was being built into.
Years past. I graduated in '94. I left to be a missionary for the summer, took a job in my small town church, and then left to go to seminary in 1996. In 2000 we moved to Northwest Georgia, but I never rarely stopped back by. There was a Lego Outlet store in my state then.
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| They don't make em like this anymore. |
I went back one last time in 2002. It was dying. That magical place was being shuttered and a new Toys R Us would replace it. It would have a shiner building near a shiner mall. I had read about it in the paper, it was discounting everything, save, save, save. I stepped in one last time. The air curtain of FOOSHING hit me as I walked in the sliding doors. So much LEGO remained. It wasn't a funeral, but a wake. I feasted.
First run X-wings for 7 bucks? Yes please! Would you like a side of $12 Y-wings with Darth TIEs? Sure, if I must.
I've been to the new shiny place. I can still find a deal or two there when I get the chance. But, there is some magic gone. Experiences fade, however I still have those bricks. Our emotion about something can waver, but the substance of what we have remains. I pine for the feeling I had as a nerdy teen finding his way to self acceptance, but I now know my Creator and his crafting. I'm the better for them both. Now I can accomplish the dreams of the past with the experience gained until now.
Today I can breathe in a Medium town. It's where I live. Rome, Georgia. I can breathe. I even have a small Toys R Us here. Not as magical, but the brick and possibilities still remain. I have my own little nerd to take in with me. Never to have shame at the bliss of his budding nerdness, and free to ignore clone brands as directed.
Yeah, I'm still glad I didn't get the Tyco Phone. My son would never trust me again.
