Reliving the glory days.

A forecast of thunder storms. Great. This is going to make for a long, painful day. We managed to get an hour in at the playground before the skies opened. Now what? Fortunately, the lil' man was perfectly content to play with cars well beyond his normal lunch time. Sweet. A late lunch equals a late nap, which equals a long nap, which equals a shortened afternoon shift.

I was just finishing MY lunch when I heard "All done daddy. All done. Scoop a up." Sure thing lil'man. We sat down with Bob Shetterly and had a snack. After ten minutes of whispering, in a deep low voice, "Diet Coke" to one another. It was time. Time to do something I've been look forward to for 27 years.

We got in daddy's black car and drove to the toy store. After 20 minutes of navigating the ridiculous maze of collectible shit that spawns obsessive behavior. We found them. The matchboxes. I new exactly what the "lil man" desired. None of the fancy shit. The simple orange track. You know the one. It snaps together with little tabs, has a hoop, and a jump. Oh little orange track, I remember you well. I was getting stressed out, I couldn't find it. Surely they still make it. How could they not? Does everything have to have buttons that makes something unnecessary happen or an obnoxious noise? Ah, there it is. Yes! The "lil' man" was delighted. Now, all we need are some good racing cars.

I really did try to let the lil' man pick out cars for his collection. But all he wanted were stupid, tricked out cars. What? A food truck? How the fuck are we going to race a food truck? It took some crafty work, but he finally settled on a sweet selection of racers. I know. I know. What's wrong with me? Why didn't I just let the lil' bugger get the food truck? Well, I just want to make sure that my, I mean his matchbox collection is as stellar as his old man's was. Is that so wrong? Maybe my matchbox collection kicked ass, 'cause my dad "helped" me pick 'em out.

We sped home. The lil' man was very patient as daddy built the perfect race track. We spent the rest of the afternoon racing cars. It was even more magnificent than I remember.

Here is his current lineup. And yes.They are arranged from fastest to slowest.