All Aboard!

Of all the stories my father's ever told me, my favorite is when he discovered trains for the first time. He was a boy, standing in a field in Florida just killing time, when out of nowhere, a huge train thundered past him. He's been a train buff ever since.

Well, whatever gene is in his DNA that unleashes the affinity for things all things rail related, I believe it skips a generation. None of my brothers, to the best of my knowledge love trains. Tattoos, yes. THAT they are into. But trains? Not so much.

Then along came Harry. He is a carrier for this gene except we are beginning to wonder if it has mutated. The boy played with trains ALL DAY LONG on Sunday. He woke up, found a toy train and carried it with him to church, to the table to eat, he had it while playing in the backyard and had it when he played with a little boy down the block in the afternoon. Every toy train he owns comes with a sheet that shows you all the other trains and accessories you can buy in case your child doesn't have enough already. He poured over that while playing with trains.

I realize we enable this obsession by allowing him to watch Thomas and Friends, dressing him in Thomas pajamas and putting his feet in Thomas shoes that light up. I'm wondering if is us that is in need of an intervention instead of Harry?