MY PAL ROBOT!

One Christmas many years ago, when Jonathan was about 3 or 4 yrs old, Santa brought him a MY PAL ROBOT for Christmas.

It was the cutest toy.  It talked, walked, played ball, giggled, and best of all - Jon loved it.  He carried it everywhere he went, but sadly about the third day - it started to self-destruct.  It wasn't super expensive, but the child loved it so much that we packaged it up and hurried to the department store to exchange it.  We managed to get the last one the store had, and after a few days that one too broke down.  Again we tried to get him a different one, but there were no more.

He was heart broken, and so were we.  Over the years we kept our eyes open for another, but we never saw one again.

A couple of years ago, I was on Ebay - and low and behold I came across one for sale.  I was so tempted to buy it for Jon - I didn't even care about the price.  All I could remember was seeing my cute little boy with huge tears running down his face, so sad because his PAL was gone.

I didn't buy it - after all that little boy had grown up, and my romantic idea that he would still cherish PAL was after all - my idea.

We never talked about PAL again...

Our church had a rummage sale a couple of weekends ago and Jon went over to check it out.  He called me to say he couldn't find anything interesting so was heading over to a flea market near by.  He never tells us where he's off too - he doesn't have too - he's all growed up - but it was nice that he did, just the same.

He called again a short time later.  He was so excited he was breathless.  "Mom, I bought something from my childhood, and it still works!  Were his exact words.  I asked him what it was and he said "It's a surprise... you'll never guess what it is!"

Sometimes a mother just knows these things!  I said "It's a Pal Robot!".

Turns out Mom was right!  He had found an bought his PAL.  He was like a 4 yr old boy again, and I realized that ifa childhood memory is that strong it should be kept and nurtured.

He is so like me - he is nostalgic, sensitive, and he loves to collect things that make him happy.  Okay so maybe some would call it something else - but those that do don't have emotional connection to things the way we do.

PAL is lovingly displayed in Jon's adult bedroom... among football jersey's, classic band posters, and Winnipeg Jets hockey banners there sits Jon's favorite toy of his childhood.  MY PAL ROBOT...

I did manage to find a picture of the original Robot and Jon that Christmas morning so long ago.  If I can get the scanner to work, I'll post it here sometime this week, while I'm at it maybe I get get a shot of the new Pal and his friend Jon - stay tuned!