Second star to the right and straight on til morning.
//Peter Pan
**Tales From The Sea will be a reoccurring series of
stories, memories, and happenings from my life. These are things I wish to have
written down as a preservation of memory, but also to hopefully inspire others,
maybe make you chuckle, improve my writing skills, and let you know a little
more about what makes me, me!**
Being children of the 90’s, my brother and I loved and
adored all things Disney. We had ALL of the VHS tapes, and watched many of them
over and over again likely while dressed in the past year’s Halloween costumes or hugging stuffed animals of whichever character was currently on top. We both had our respective favorites, but one movie that we both
really enjoyed equally was Peter Pan. In 1997, at the peak of our Neverland
obsession and much to the dismay of our Mom, McDonalds came out with a line of
Peter Pan inspired Happy Meal toys. A trip to McDonalds was definitely a treat
for us as kids, and I’d say we probably got to go maybe once a month, if that,
to get Happy Meals or play in the Playscape with either our parents or our babysitter. When the commercials came out for the Peter Pan toys, we were
in awe. MUST HAVE THEM ALL quickly became our mentality and I am sure the
begging and pleading to Mom and Dad began shortly afterwards. There was one
toy, in particular, that we both were absolutely jonesing for and were dying to
have. It was the ‘Crocodile Pocket-knife’.
It just looked so incredibly cool from the commercials and we both
latched onto the thoughts of having it and would not let go. Just by the name
of it, you can totally tell that something like this would in no way fly in
today’s 2015 society. A toy pocket-knife? For kids to play with?! H-E-double L
to the no, I can hear the lawsuits already. But thankfully, we were kids of the
90’s and this was just one of the BAJILLION reasons why it was the absolute
best era to grow up in.
So, days went by and after some serious pleading and
promising to do our chores and whatnot, we were on our way to McDonalds.
Michael ALWAYS got the cheeseburger Happy Meal, and I ALWAYS got the Nuggets
Happy Meal. Never straying, we were both ride-til-we-die to our respective fake
meats. Mom went through the drive through and from the backseat we were eagerly
awaiting our boxes and the Peter Pan toy that lied within. We tore them open,
bypassing the food and going right for the greasy plastic packages at the
bottom. We both take them out simultaneously and much to our disappointment, we
each pull out the “Smee Flashlight” toy which was hands down the worst and
least-cool toy of the lot. Smee was the short and stumpy and not-so smart first
mate of Captain Hook and the toy we got was just a small replica of his round
body in flashlight form. Booooooo. It’s okay though, this was only the first
week, and must have been the first toy in the rotation to be given out to
patrons. Our need and want for the Crocodile Pocket-knife only increased from
that moment out, and there was just no question that we absolutely had to have
it. Mom was in for a rough month.
With lots more begging and pleading, the next few trips to
Mickey D’s went as follows:
Trip #2
Mike: Smee Flashlight
Ash: Smee Flashlight
Ugh! What the heck! Another Smee Flashlight!? How dare
they!!
Trip #3
Mike: Captain Hook Telescope
Ash: Smee Flashlight
Okay, at least one of us got a different toy this time, so
maybe they have changed the rotation. But I still got the flashlight again.
Maybe it’s because I got chicken nuggets and he got the cheeseburger. Maybe I
should suck it up get the burger next time. Maybe.
Trip#4
Mike: Wendy Magnifier
Ash (orders same Cheeseburger meal as Mike): Smee
Flashlight
Okay, this is really not fair. The tears were welling up
in my eyes. Again, Michael got one of the different toys and I was stuck with
my THIRD Smee flashlight in a row. At least we both had still not gotten the
Crocodile Pocket-Knife, but if you can in any way relate to childhood
relationships with your siblings, my misfortune was NOT overlooked by my
younger Brother. He was basking in the fact that he had 3 of the 7 toys in the
set and making sure to rub it in and show off/brag in any way he could. My Mom
was starting to get sick of hearing it, and we had also been to McDonalds about
four times in two weeks so she decided that we could go ONE last time if we
were on our 100% BEST behavior all week. Mike and I knew this was the end-all-be-all,
so we put on our angel faces and a couple days later we were headed back for
the 5th and final attempt at the Crocodile Pocket-Knife.
Trip#5
Mike: CROCODILE POCKET-KNIFE!!!!
Ash: ……………..Smee Flashlight
No lie folks. I couldn’t decide if I was happy that we at
least got one, or absolutely devastated that my little brother got the big
coveted prize and all I had to show for it was a hoarder’s sized collection of
Smee flashlights. I was the latter. Totally and utterly devastated. I cried and
begged and complained to my Mom. Couldn’t she just go in and ask to exchange
mine? They had to have more! It wasn’t fair! Nope. She had given us fair
warning that this was the last time. And besides, Michael had “gotten the
Crocodile Pocket-Knife and we were to ‘share it’”. Sharing was not one of
Michaels strongest suits, and plus, it just wasn’t the same as having my own.
For whatever reason, this was something that just stuck
with me. One of those things that just stays in the back of your mind,
popping out from time to time when certain things remind you of it. I could
never look at Peter Pan the same. Michael and I would talk and joke about it
from time to time, even as we got much older. That friggan Smee Flashlight…..
If I ever saw one again it would be too soon. I’m sure many other ‘unfair’
instances happened to me while growing up, brother and sister quarrels and
fights over toys, but they all came and passed. But for whatever reason, thoughts of that darn Crocodile
Pocket-Knife just wouldn’t leave me.
Fast forward 18 years.
I meet a boy named Nick on vacation in 2013. We start
dating and are in the season of “getting to know each other” on a deeper level.
It takes time and effort to figure out who the other person really is. We spent the
first 25 years of our lives NOT knowing each other. A lot had happened during
that time that made us into the people we are today who really care for and
love each other. We were both very eager to learn more about each other and our pasts, so
we would often stay up late telling each other stories from our childhoods and
teen years in hopes of getting to know each other better. And also because we both
truly cared about where the other person came from and what they had
experienced and gone through up to that point of us meeting in 2013. Somewhere
along in conversation within those first few months of dating, the Crocodile
Pocket-Knife story came up. I am not sure who said what that caused me to
remember it, but I gave Nick the full story and play by play of that damn Smee
Flashlight and the Crocodile Pocket-Knife I never got. The conversation kept
going after that and it was right on to the next topic, never to be talked
about again beyond that one instance. I’d say it was maybe August.
Fast forward again another 4 months to December 24th.
Nick came over on Christmas Eve as we had planned to open our gifts for each
other that night since we had busy days planned for Christmas with our
families. There was lots of excitement and anticipation for the gifts we had
gotten each other, and by some of the things Nick had already gotten me up to
that point throughout the year, I knew it was going to be good. Just how good
though? I had no idea. I opened a few of the things from him. A leather-bound journal
since he knew I wanted to start blogging and organizing my ideas, a pair of new
slippers I had really been wanting, a fake license plate that read TINSEL
because I had seen it on a car one day and though it was the cutest thing ever,
and a large nautical duffel bag with a luggage tag that had the coordinates to
my favorite beach on it; just to name a few. I then came to an odd shaped
present that seemed to flop around a bit and not hold its shape. I had
absolutely NO idea what it was. And then I opened it. Six small plastic bags,
unopened, each containing one of the 7 toys from the 1997 McDonalds Peter Pan
Happy Meal Collection. There was another smaller wrapped gift attached to them.
I opened that as well. It was the 7th toy in the collection, the
Crocodile Pocket-Knife. Cue the ugly-cry. I really could not believe it. “How!?
Wait, WHAT?! Where did you get these!?” finally came out of my mouth as I wiped
away the tears. Apparently, you CAN find
just about anything online these days. I just could not get over it. I had only
told him the story that one time, months earlier! But somehow he knew and took
from the conversation just how much I had wanted that Crocodile Pocket-Knife,
and how disappointed I was to not have had it.
I had finally gotten it, my very own Crocodile
Pocket-knife, almost 20 years later. I know how lucky I am to have a guy like
Nick in my life and I hope he knows how much that gift means to me. He makes my dreams come true, and is the most thoughtful and
caring person I know. For him to pick up on something small like that in our conversation and to think and plan and search and save it for me for Christmas speaks volumes to the kind of guy he is. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
A few things that I learned from this whole Crocodile
Pocket-Knife saga is that a lot of the times, life is not fair. Other people
will get the Captain Hook Telescope and the Wendy Magnifier and the Crocodile
Pocket-Knife, and you will be stuck sitting there with the Smee flashlight for
what seems like no apparent reason. But, in the same jest, I have since learned that
bad luck now may very well lead to good luck in the future. So whatever you may
be going through, big or small, hang tight! There really are reasons for
everything.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go cut my French
fries in half with a plastic reptile.
**DISCLAIMER FOR THE TROLLS: Yes, I know. This is a first-world problem and first-world story. Boo-hoo, I didn’t get the toy I wanted. Other children go without food or water. I don’t feel bad for myself, and I had a wonderful upbringing and childhood. I was and am very blessed, and I do my best not to take anything for granted. This story is more about the overall life-lessons I learned, silly memories, and fate in meeting a sweet boy than the toy itself. **
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