Did This Happen to my Parents

I've noticed children, people in general, really, tend to get very attached to certain things. These things may be a toy, a movie, a book, something like that. And why not? When you're young, those things are your world, and you only keep things in your world that you adore.

As we get older, we leave those things behind. Maybe something happens to them, like they break or something. And then, years later, we might remember it and go searching for it, or we might just randomly come across it somewhere. Then, we work to own it again and are filled with childlike joy at having it, and all the memories that it induces.

When my brother and I were young, my parents had a subscription to National Geographic World. It was the National Geographic for kids. Simple, right? Each issue had some kind of nifty pull-out, a map or a poster or something. I remember one that was a beautiful unicorn painting, and on the back had drawings and information about other creatures that never were. I loved that poster, and I had it hanging on my wall for years. I remember taking it down to paint my room, and my cat, Nick, who had a paper fetish, destroyed it. It was gone. I was sad.

Years later, something reminded me of that poster and I went searching. I was able to find that it came with the December 1986 issue, but National Geographic didn't have any of those back issues in stock anymore. I tried the Want it Now feature on eBay, but people kept wanting to sell me the December 1986 National Geographic (not National Geographic World, a different publication). For long stretches of time, I would give up looking, then search again only to come up nil again.

Just a couple weeks ago, LDS mentioned a book she was looking for but couldn't find. I told her I can find anything and found her book. I also had another inkling to search for this magazine and poster again. This time, I found it at a wonderful little site called Pastpaper.com. Within a week, it was ordered and handful of days after that, it arrived.

I must admit that I made a funny, cute little squee when I gently opened the magazine and saw the poster folded neatly inside. I was glad no one was home! I know I was handling it like it would fall apart if I sneezed. It is almost 25 years old, after all. Now, I need a frame. No, I need a frame NOW!!

Anyway, looking at that poster, and remembering how very fond I was of it also reminded me of something else. The nifty dragons on the back of the poster always reminded me of the Flight of Dragons. This was an animated film based off of a couple books and released in 1982. I found a re-release on VHS that I bought for my brother about a dozen years ago. There has never been a DVD release. Seriously! They can put the Last Unicorn on DVD but not Flight of Dragons?! What's up with this!?! I don't have a VHS player anymore! Gah!!

I did find a site that might have a bootlegged, recorded from video, DVD. I'm taking a chance with it and seeing how it is.

Maybe it's my impending birthday that's making me want to reconnect with all these cool things I had when I was growing up. I think if I had kids of my own, the pull would be stronger. Though, I do want my godsons to be able to love what my brother and I so dearly loved. I wonder if my parents did this too.