Full Circle

When I was young I loved Lego.

How much?
I slept under them.

My room at my mom's house was probably 10' x 8' and when I was in elementary school my grandfather built a table out of an old door. I put my Lego city on top of the table and my bed under it, directly on the floor.

<inset lost childhood photo of my bedroom with giant Lego table>

I spent hours playing with my Shell Gas Station (6378-1), Big Rig Truck Stop (6393), City Airport (10159) and my Police Command Base (6386).. just to name a few.  Eventually I added the Steam Cargo Train Set (7722), the Fire Fighter (4020) and Lighting system. The whole town lit up at night and the town was surrounded by a train track loop. I was Lord Business, everything had its place and everything stayed exactly how I wanted it.

I was also the young boy who took the Mobile Rocket Launcher (987), the Command Center (926-1) and Space Transporter (924-1) and turned them into a giant robot to destroy the town. I would break up the buildings and reinvent them over and over.

Years passed and I gave up my Lego collection for a Am486 processor (with TURBO!) and my life long obsession with video games started. I carefully packed away Lego sets in neat little zip lock bags and put them in the attic.  Later, while I was in college, my mom took them out of storage and colorbetized the entire box ಠ_ಠ, oh and she laminated all of the instructions.

Now I am a father of a soon-to-be 5 year old boy who is starting to show a slight appreciation for the world of Lego.  Do I slowly introduce him with Duplo? Do I follow the age directions on the boxes?

Oh hell no! This Christmas I'm going to blow his mind by giving him all my Lego bricks in one day* and I built him a table on which to play with it all.

I present to you The Lego Table**:

*minus the train and lighting section, I feel that's a little above his pay grade and I have to hold something back for next year. right?
**Plates are not set in their final display position, they were placed for spacing and are not permanent. This was halfway through the process before we set the frame.

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