Toy Story's Real Legacy

Pixar's latest animated movie, Toy Story 3, is the third in a series of very clever movies which depict life through the eyes of Andy's toys. Anyone who has seen them, would fondly recall some of the toys that we all played with when we were kids. The main characters, Woody and Buzz, instantly became household favorites following the release of the first movie. In the latest saga, Andy has grown into a young man and faces the reality of having to make some choices regarding his childhood "friends" as he prepares to head off for college. There are several delightfully entertaining features about this movie which, in my opinion, make it a sentimental classic, but what plucked on my emotional heart strings most was the personal commitment that all the characters had to each other. However, since the movie was focused on toys, I will start with some of my recollections of the toys we had at home.

Having 3 brothers, it always seemed that we had plenty of "boy" toys around. We had Tonka trucks of every variety, and with them, we daily reshaped the landscape below the grove of lilacs along our driveway. But if we weren't digging trenches or constructing roadways, we were readying the balsa wood airplanes for takeoff. Unlike Andy, our generation didn't have the luxury of the radio controlled vehicles, but had they been available, I can assure you that we would have had our own motor pool of cars. When we weren't in the dirt, we were leading a convoy of Marines into combat with our Anzio Invaders, with air coverage from our fleet of airplanes. Our parachute men provided us with hours of entertainment. Once, one of our parachutists was carried off by an updraft, never to be seen again. We had the Radio Flyer, red wagons hauling anything from kids to yard waste. Of course, there were multitudes of round orbs too, either to kick, hit, or heave at the basket. Occasionally, those spheres would end up on the roof, in the trees, or perhaps even through a window. Naturally, that's when the fun would end.

Yes, all of the Toy Story movies have provided a wonderful glimpse into the lives of those storied toys, and the subject matter proved to be very entertaining too. They have served as a wonderful reminder of a more carefree time in our lives, our youth. Additionally, this last one links them all together, but more importantly, it captures the essence of life, it reminds us that we all must grow up. With that, we are faced with those critical decisions, just like Andy, and how we handle those choices may, to some extent, define our future. Likely, you have heard of the term legacy.

The definition of LEGACY:
1. a gift by will especially of money or other personal property : bequest
2. something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past

Toy Story's real legacy lies with how we look at our own lives, as in the material goods we have and will pass on or with the memories that we have created with the ones we love. Both are priceless in their own way, but remember, in the end, the memories are all we can take with us to "infinity and beyond", so pass it along!