Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Great Lego Project


My BFF is simply a ball of energy. She can run circles around me and still look good! She's also brimming with youth and vivaciousness. When we're old and in the nursing home, she'll be the one leading the aerobics class. (I'll be watching from the back while I eat my chocolate ice cream.)

Because she has so much energy, she is constantly looking for constructive ways to channel it. She exercises religiously. She plays with her kids- I'm not just talking supervising, either. I mean she roller skates, rides bikes, plays basketball and gets down on the floor for Barbies and Legos.

She spends time organizing and cleaning her home (something my hubby prays will rub off on me every day of his life). But, as with anything she does, she does it with determination and verve.

The other day she called on the phone, obviously absolutely giddy with excitement.

"Guess what?" she breathed.

"What?"

"I just read the most amazing article!" (Did I mention that she's also a veracious reader that could put most librarians to shame?)

"Ooooh... What was it about?" I asked.

"Storage for Legos," she squealed.

I stayed quiet on my end waiting for the rest of it. But she was done.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"There was this whole, big article about how to store Legos," she gushed. "It gave some great ideas on containers and sizes and everything. It said that kids are more likely to play with them if they are organized and they can find everything. It was such a good article, I looked it up online and found even more articles with more ideas!"

(Was there a big movement for Lego storage that I missed somewhere?)

"So... You are... organizing the Legos," I said slowly, again, certain I was missing something.

"Yes!" she laughed.

Now, her OCD tendencies with her children's toys are something with which I am quite familiar. She almost had a stroke when she found out I co-mingle the Barbies with the Poly Pockets. And all of her Little People were stored in their original groupings: the school Little People with the school; the firemen Little people with the fire house; and, so on. And she admits to sometimes redressing and re-grooming all the Barbies after her daughter has gone to bed.

However, the proper organization of Legos was a new one for me. Especially since we had been years without the first Lego in our house. We did have them at one point. But every time I stepped on one with bare feet, or crawled across one on my hands and knees looking for something else, I would swoop up every Lego I could find within reach and pitch them in the garbage can, muttering very unladylike things under my breath.

Finally, I said, "Well, I guess if that's what makes you happy..."

She laughed, knowing full well that any more storage than a muck bucket for the toys was over the edge as far as I was concerned.

"Yes! I'm going to Michaels today to look for the containers. I have a coupon and I saw some of the containers I think will work in their flyer," she said excitedly.

"Okay... Well, that's great! I hope your kids love it!" I said, trying to sound supportive and enthusiastic.

Bless her heart, her good organizing and cleaning intentions are totally lost on me. Not that I don't enjoy a pretty, organized, clean home. It's just that I use more broad strokes, compared to her attention to the tiny, little details.

I giggled to myself for the rest of the day thinking of her looking like a kid at Christmas, as she lovingly placed each Lego in it's appropriate storage receptacle. Her kids probably will be thrilled with it.

And it's one of those funny, funky things that makes her who she is (not that I have anything funny or funky LOL). Her attention to detail, her energy, her youthfulness are all just some of the things that make her such a great BFF. (It's also why we could never be married, among other things LOL).

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