Reconnecting with Childhood

This weekend the husband, kid and I all headed to the Sci-Fi Expo for a day of fun. We’d been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks. It was a lot more crowded than I expected. Guess there are more nerds in this world that we realize. 😉 I can say that because I’m one of them.

Since there weren’t any guests we were all that interested in (photo ops with the stars were $40 a pop and the line was about an hour), we spent most of the time in the exhibit hall. It was huge. And filled with everything you could ever want. T-shirts, memorabilia, vintage toys, comic books, books, etc. At the back of the room the comic book artists did commissions on the fly. It was really cool to see them drawing in action.

One of the booths we walked by was stuffed full of old vintage toys. Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. I spotted Indiana Jones from across the aisle and knew I had to get a closer look. Because the booths are so small, I had to wait my turn to get up to the thing I was eyeing.

I pointed to it and the very nice proprietor pulled it down from the shelf for me. Turns out it was a LP version of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Yes, on vinyl. I had this when I was a kid. I played it over and over and over and over and over. Literally thousands of times. Because back then in the late 80s, there was no Blockbuster or Netflix or DVDs. Sure we had it on video tape but I couldn’t watch it every second like I wanted. This was the next best thing. It’s how I learned every Chinese word to Anything Goes, the opening number. How I knew ever syllable Indy and Willie spoke. I loved this move. And that picture there on the cover hung over my bed for a really long time.

The cover is in pristine condition. The story booklet inside is also in pristine condition. I practically squealed delight when the guy pulled it out to show me.

My husband, who was patiently standing there watching me ooh and aahh over this stupid LP, very casually asked how much. The marked price was $30 but he said he’d give it to us for $15. And then he’d throw in the Raiders of the Lost Ark laserdisc for another $10. (If you don’t know what the laserdisc was, I’ll explain in another post.

I was all over that.

Or actually hubby was.

I said, though, “Why do I need this? It’s silly.”

The guy at the booth said it best, “Why does anyone need any of this stuff? It’s just a way to reconnect with your childhood.”

And my husband said, “You don’t but I’m going to buy it for you anyway.”

They were both so right. My husband bought them both for me. I was ecstatic!

When I got it home, I pulled out the shiny, glossy booklet and flipped through it. Now all I need is a record player!