The Blessed Day Has Finally Arrived

From days of long ago...
Comes a memory, the memory of....

VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE

Earlier this year, Ashton discovered and fell in love with this campy vintage cartoon from the eighties and his devotion has never wavered. Remember the cute lemonade stand he did back when the weather was still in the 50's? He was trying to earn money to purchase a Voltron action figure off of Ebay. After all, with the franchise being out of production for over 20 years you can't go to your local Wal-mart and pick one up. Unfortunately, I was surprised at what a cult hit this was because every one we tried to bid on ended up selling for over a hundred bucks, some that were in better condition even sold for upwards of two hundred dollars. Now, I love Ashton and want him to be happy, but I just couldn't see myself paying over a hundred dollars for a plastic toy that was five times older than he was. I tried to distract him with other toy options and we set up a system, where he could "earn" stars to pay for the toys he wanted versus me just caving and buying them everytime he wanted something:


But Voltron was never forgotten, David had the same Voltron action figure when he was a boy just about Ashton's age. His mom scoured her old boxes of toys and was only able to find two of the five robot lions that form Voltron (don't ask) the green and the blue one. Just a week ago I ventured onto Ebay again to see what they had. I found a Voltron toy that was missing only one piece: the green lion that formed his right arm...exactly the piece that Ashton already had! Because he wasn't complete absolutely no one else bid on him and we could have walked away with the precious collectible for only $1, however, we felt bad so we worked out a deal with the seller and he sold it to us for $30 with shipping.
For the next couple days, Ashton asked me nearly every five minutes how much longer it would be. We had to have several discussions about it and at night before he went to bed he excitedly exclaimed that it would be one less day until Voltron arrived. On the day I was expecting the package, I caught him in my peripheral vision as I was working in the office running to the door and looking out the window seemingly every half hour swearing he "heard something".
When by the end of the day it still hadn't come and we were pulling in the driveway after a grocery store run, I was trying to explain to a disappointed Ashton that it would only be one more day when....we saw this:

A peel of delight rang through the car as he ripped off his seatbelt and made it to the doorway in record time.

(Yes that is chocolate on his face from a donut I let him eat at the store...)





The next few minutes unfolded with gasps of excitement and impatient little hands struggling with what seemed to be extra strength packaging tape. Amidst ripping apart cardboard, he kept saying "Dreams do come true...":



It felt like Christmas morning, watching his face light up as he pulled out each lion with a squeal of joy. Here he is reciting his favorite theme...


They have been literally inseparable ever since, he carries it around with him day and night and watching the episodes take on a whole new meaning with his very own version sitting right beside him. I love being a parent.


(Please excuse my messy house in the background, the excitement was so heightened over Voltron's arrival and Ashton's face was beaming so brightly, I didn't even think to notice all the junk in the background).