Those of you who have known my son Jeffrey since he was a toddler, will well remember the days of his all-consuming key obsession. He was totally obsessed with keys of any kind; they were all he seemed to care about in his young life. If anyone came into our house carrying keys, Jeffrey could somehow hear them jangling from the furthest corners of the house and would instantly come running. “Are dose yur keys?” he would ask, focusing on the key ring with a maniacal gleam in his eye. He wouldn’t rest until he was holding and examining said keys, grilling our guest, memorizing each key, learning whether is was to a door or a vehicle or something even more interesting, like a bike lock.
While in pursuit of his obsession he ran off with, and subsequently lost, several sets of keys. Eventually, friends and family got wise to him and took to hiding their key rings, keeping them tightly held and silent while entering our house. (With the exception of my teasing Uncle Brad, who would always come in dangling and jangling his keys as loudly as possible; getting a huge kick out of Jeffrey suddenly appearing out of no where and becoming his instant best friend).
Fortunately, and to many friends/familys relief, Jeffrey’s key obsession gradually faded away. Mike and I were also relieved to see that he didn’t pick up any other obsessions to replace that of the keys. We foolishly assumed his obsessive tendencies had seen their last day…turns out…we were sadly mistaken.
Now, several years later, another obsession has surfaced. This one rivaling his former obsession with keys.
The thing is people…STAR WARS MANIA IS TAKING OVER OUR LIVES!
Just the other day I over heard Mary Kate say, with more than a little exasperation in her voice, “Jeffrey, can you talk about anything else besides Star Wars? Please!”
Don’t get your hopes up Mary Kate. We’ve seen this behavior before.
Let me give you a glimpse into Jeffrey’s Star Wars obsessed world.
For instance…
We accidentally left his Star Wars character encyclopedia at Uncle Darin and Aunt Kim’s the other night. Jeffrey could not rest until it was retrieved and safely back in his possession.
One of his favorite pastimes is to get on Amazon.com and scroll through Star Wars Lego sets and dream. He has to rely on dreams because MAN- those things are expensive!!!! When he actually gets his hands on one, it instantly becomes his most prized possession.
He’d wear his Star Wars t-shirts and pajamas everyday if they weren’t occasionally wet from washing…
..and his light saber collection is vast and growing. His light saber moves are improving too, maybe a little like this guy.
He will only eat lunch from a Star Wars lunch box (which he has two of)…
…not to mention his collection of action figures, Pez dispensers, and posters; and his playing Lego Star Wars Wii games and watching the movies (both of which I allow only rarely, for obvious reasons).
Jeffrey’s current dresser display.
Obviously we as his parents are feeding this obsession. After all, Jeffrey can’t drive himself to Target to by a Darth Vader alarm clock or General Grievious’s double light saber. (Although I bet Uncle Brad would let Jeffrey drive himself to Target).
It seems I can’t help myself though. Marketers are geniuses; preying on a parent’s own childhood memories to entice them to purchase products. They seem to know full well that I grew up with three brothers and several cousins who had similar obsessions with all things Star Wars. All the stuff certainly takes me back to those happy days. In fact, it’s been truly alarming to me to discover just how much I really do know about the world of Star Wars. Jeffrey thinks it’s the coolest thing ever that I saw the first Star Wars movie in an actual theater.
Mostly though, I’m just a sucker for watching Jeffrey’s face light up with pure, unadulterated delight when I present him with anything Star Wars related. So…I guess I have no one to blame but myself for this current obsession that is taking over our lives.
(I just hope this will be a childhood preoccupation and that the boys won’t be attending Sci-Fi conventions in their 40’s!)
___________
The other night Mary Kate and I stumbled upon this You Tube video. As soon as I clicked play, Jeffrey and Jonathan (who is being converted a bit more everyday to a similar obsession) came running from the furthest corner of the house to watch-- it’s no longer the jangling of keys but the sound of John Williams that causes them to come running now.
After watching this video five hundred thousand times, both of my boys declared they would like to sign up for cello lessons. I don’t have the heart to tell them that normal cello bows do not shoot laser bullets or light up like light sabers.
This is pretty entertaining though. If you’ve ever appreciated anything Star Wars in your whole life, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it…
May the Force be with you!
(It doesn’t look like it will be without us for quite some time)
6 comments:
In a galaxy far away...! There are worse things to be obsessed with! Cheaper things, too...like everyone else's keys! Jeffrey, I like Star Wars, too and if you take cello lessons, I'll listen to you practice!
I think it's the name. Do you remember how obsessed Jeff Thatcher was with all things Star Wars? I saw my first Star Wars Movie with him.
This must be a Dickey thing. My parents had eight children, 55 grandchildren and some 70 great grandchildren and there is no sign of OCD in any of them.
I thought I had sensed a disturbance in the force. Welcome aboard, Jeffrey!
Well Brad...other people in the family may have had problems with OCD, but no one in this household!
how fun!! I love this one from the Pianoguys!
Nice collection
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