There was a book that I cherished more than all others and it arrived in our home just once a year. When it arrived I quickly tore through it, though careful not to damage it. Sitting on my bed I would flip past pages of epicness and awesomeness, drooling over the newest and greatest toys I had ever seen.
This was the Sears Wish Book.
I would spend hours… no, DAYS… scanning each page, carefully dog-earing those that had the toys I was vying for and circling in ink those toys that I explained I must “absolutely, totally must have”.
In 1993, Sears essentially discontinued this titillating tome. This was my last year at home before heading off to college, so I imagined that Sears knew I wouldn’t be around in time to enjoy flipping through pages of G. I. Joe, Transformers, He-Man and the occasional chemistry set. But it was sad to see it go. They did bring it back, sort of, in 2005. The “Little Big Wish Book” was a miniature version; a sad little pamphlet compared to the girth and grandeur of the original.
I was so saddened by the diminished book that I had nearly forgotten about it completely until I realized today (five years behind schedule) that the “true” Wish Book had returned in 2007! While smaller, the book is more like the original than the diminutive “Little Big Wish Book”. I might have to go out and get one this year just to relive the joy of folding pages and circling dreams. Of course, toys are not the same. I know that. “You can’t go home again,” as they say. But it is pretty great that in this digital era you can still smell the freshly pressed ink as your fingers rifle through the glossy, colorful pages.
Tommy Karr 