Ghostbusters
My mum is a saint, and always has been. Here's why.

Back in the late 1980s, when I was just a lad, I was nuts over the Ghostbusters action figures and accessories. I want to brag about having the Proton Pack costume, Ecto One and Two, dozens of action figures, the Play-Doh factory, even the enormous firehouse playset, but the truth is my mum was the one who would comb the shops looking for these toys. This was before the Internet and we never had anything shipped, so on her lunch hours she would search store by store to find that one that I had pointed out in the catalogue. From her point of view they were almost certainly cheap plastic junk, but I loved them and she indulged me.

Fast forward to the mid 90s, when personal computers and K'nex have come along, and the children's toys have gone into the closet. Mum decides she needs to clear some room, and sells the ENTIRE COLLECTION for $15 at a rummage sale. The whole thing! Took years to collect and the memories of countless hours... I was devastated, and harbored resentment towards my dear sweet mum. I knew I would never see them again, and I couldn't understand why she would sell them for such a pittance.

Fast forward another ten years, to 2007. A large, mysterious box about the size of a microwave oven awaits under the Christmas tree. My mother had spent the past four months on eBay finding and purchasing Ghostbusters toys, at something like twenty times their original retail price, as many as she could find, to make up for her selling the treasured toys of my childhood.

I've never had anyone perform a gesture as loving and as deeply meaningful as that one, and I'll never forget it. I love you, Mom.
(Galemp makes FreeSpace better, Wed 17 Feb 2010, 3:48, 3 replies)

Wow, good on ya mum!
Bet she's glad they weren't unopened star wars toys eh?
( Blind Meach Cautiously optimistic, Wed 17 Feb 2010, 9:37, closed)

Aw, that's sweet!
And do you keep them in a large box in the attic now and never look at them? I bet you do!

... That's where I keep my childhood stuff. I was just rummaging through them the other day, which was great fun.
( Fronds are waving gently on, Wed 17 Feb 2010, 11:14, closed)

Last Christmas
My mum got me a tape (That's right, a Cassette tape. Old school for the win!) version of the book 'Funny Bones' read by Bernard Cribbins, from 1988. Apparently she'd looked for the book for a while and couldn't find it so got me this. I freakin' loved that book when I was a nipper and, when I'm out will often say top myself "In the dark, dark town there was a dark, dark street...'etc.
( Funkenschlag still likes dogs more than cats, Thu 18 Feb 2010, 12:35, closed)