The older I get, the more I see things come full circle in my life. It’s amusing, mysterious, and amazing!

I had left some old, childhood toys at my mom’s house when I moved out years ago, and I had forgotten all about them. Gathering dust in my old closet were two Pound Puppies, a Barbie still in her box, my Tree Tots Family Tree House, my Lite-Brite, my Strawberry Shortcake doll, my Poochie coloring book, and the most prized possession of my childhood: my Easy Bake Oven. All of them in great condition and all of them now considered “vintage”.

Well, I recently brought them home to my children. I explained to my daughter about how I used to play with the toys I was about to give her, and that she’d need to take extra special care of them.

Like many children, she has a number of toys. So, the deal is that she has to pick out two or three of them to be donated to Amvets every so often, usually when she gets new ones. She doesn’t put up too much of a fuss about parting with them, and it warms my heart when she explains that some other child will get to play with her toys. This time, she selected four toys, one of which was her brother’s. Nice try, Emily! 🙂

So far, I’ve only allowed her to play with the Pound Puppies, Barbie, the tree house, Strawberry Shortcake, and the coloring book. Flipping through the coloring book, we found a page that I had filled out 31 years before, to the day! She couldn’t quite wrap her young mind around the idea of me as a little girl 31 years ago, but I had goosebumps! It was the oddest sensation to see my scribbled handwriting and faded coloring, and to realize that the date was exactly the same! A genuine moment of déjà vu!

Logan hasn’t really taken much interest in the toys, but then again, he’s still pretty young to even know what to do with them. So far, it seems as though Emily likes playing with the tree house the most. It’s so endearing to watch her play, creating a pretend world using the same toys that I used to play with when I was only slightly older than she is. A wondrous thing the imagination is, from one generation to the next.

Below are a few photos.