Match box cars

If a family's wealth and happiness were measured by the number of 3 inch mostly aluminum toy cars that it houses then our family would surely be as happy as clowns even on the worst of days and we'd use dollar bills instead of Costco wet wipes for every house hold need and dirty nose/diaper. There is not a secret nook in this house that does not have a brightly colored car/truck/van/jeep crammed deep inside.

This is surely the mark of a house with boys. Yesterday I went to said Costco to fill up the family car with gas. I open up the gas cap and out falls a yellow race car and one of the boys favorites - an orange conversion van. So I opened up the passenger door to toss the cars inside and I start to clean out the mounds of cheerios/graham crackers/goldfish that have accumulated in oh....the last 3 days...and stuffed deep inside the seat belt whole is yet another favorite - a blue hatch back. Before I finished my fill up I had acquired 9 of the little boogers, many of which were at one lucky day in a cars life - the boys most favorite of them all. Poor, forgotten about matchbox toy.

The oldest boy likes to sit as any oldest child would do and line up his cars in perfect rows along a table or dresser or even the cracks in the hard wood floors. He could do this for hours and he would know quickly if one were missing.

The youngest boy likes to do two things with his cars. First of all - according to the oldest none of the cars are actually the youngest's - they are just being borrowed temporarily. And like any 2nd born - he really doesn't care because his attention span is nothing short of nonexistent. First he uses them as defense and throws them or mischievously pushes the perfect lines of cars off the table just to get a rouse from his oldest brother. Secondly, he transports them to and fro. To and fro where you might ask? Oh, the usual and necessary places - to the bathtub and from the dishwasher. To the small space behind the tv to behind the toilet...where every car toy would like to be. And he likes to use the oddest of vehicles to transport "his" cars....a glass bowl, a plastic bag from the grocery store, a shoe, a helmet...whatever holds things aptly holds his cars and you would think the little one was getting paid in lollipops to take these cars and put them in the most unlikely places.

There is not a purse or bag without two cars deep inside. This comes in handy at a restaurant or the doctor. And there literally isn't a corner, crevice in the couch, basket, drawer, oven, or cabinet that is not home to a matchbox car at any given moment in this home of little boys.

AND I LOVE IT! In my fluctuating hormonal state I started flooding tears when I opened my gas tank yesterday and the two cars toppled to my feet. I love these little boys like I never knew I could and I love watching their personalities come to life even in the way they love/care for/abuse and hide their little cars. I am grateful that we have many many more years to accumulate many many more little cars and I hope when the house is a little more quiet in the years to come that I can always open a drawer for a rag and find a little car taking cover.