Nojo Town

So a couple of months ago, after we moved into our new house, Noah comes out of his bedroom into the living room carrying a small box. He looks at me and says, “Dad, what is this?” He was holding a small comemerative Jeff Gordon train set my father got for him when he was born. Just now turning eight, Noah had always been to young to play with the small “N” scale model. And being a collectible, we didn’t want anything to happen to it either. I explained to him what it was. I even looked the set up on eBay to show him how much it was worth.
He said, “So this means I can’t play with it right?”
After squelching a slight laugh I said, “No buddy, you can’t.” But seeing the disappointment in his eyes, I followed that with, “But would you like a train set to play with?”
“Yeah!!” and that is what got this ball rolling.
I love my son. We love hanging out together. If "tickle-fighting" was an Olympic sport, we would have a future Gold Medalist on our hands. But as he starts to get older his time is starting to get more and more preoccupied with video games. If his excitement for having a model train is going to provide us with some quality time and the chance for me to teach him a few things I know, I’m going to take that opportunity to the bank.
For the past couple of months we have been looking at websites, visiting Train shops in our area and we even went to a “Model Train Show” at the State Fair Grounds with my dad. We’ve been doing lots of stuff to keep the energy levels up and the knowledge flowing. This Christmas is going to be an “all Train” Christmas for both of us.
I don’t know which of us is more excited or which one of us is going to learn more. I know for me this process is going take a lot of patients. No matter what, I know I’m going to really enjoy the time with Noah, building a memory that will last his entire life. And as a parent isn’t that what we are suppose to do?