Just wanted to wish a
Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there - my own, as well as any of our JD members who have kids of their own as well!
I thought it would be cool if we could each share a nice memory about our Dads. A Star Wars related one would be even better, but isn't necessary. Here's a recent favorite one of mine...
My Dad is a pretty serious guy, who's mostly into serious "guy stuff" like sports, tools, cars, etc. He's never expressed much of an interest at all in my Star Wars fandom or collecting ways, even though he knows it's one of my favorite hobbies. I've always wondered if it in fact embarrassed him just a little...
Well, about 3.5 years ago, not long after the release of Ep. 1, the wife and I headed out to Scottsdale, AZ like usual to spend the Holidays with my family. I'm a nitpicky freak who always prefers to give out detailed Christmas lists to the family of what I'd like for presents, rather than having them trying to just "wing it" and pick out something for me on their own that they think I'd like. Hate it when they do that, 'cause I always just wind up returning it.
Well, 3 Christmases ago in the middle of the family's big gift giving session, my sister brought over this giant package to me from my Dad. Immediately recognizing that this couldn't possibly be anything off of my detailed list, I was a bit concerned about what might be inside. I opened it up, and found a
complete set of all 12 Phantom Menace cup toppers from the Taco Bell/KFC/Pizza Hut promotion that was being run several months prior! I was flat-out dumbfounded. Not so much about the fun cup topper gifts in and of themselves, but moreso due to the fact that my Dad told me he had spent nearly a month driving all over town to all the different restaurants trying to complete the entire set for me (even Dad knows I'm a completist for everything).
Even though these items weren't on my Christmas list, didn't cost much, weren't too HTF, and would've probably never found their way into my collection otherwise, the fact that my Dad specifically went SO FAR out of his way to try to "connect" with me, and show me that he's cool with my Star Wars fettish, and even helping to add to my collection in the process with this complete set of fun collectibles, was just about one of the coolest things that he's ever done for me (and he's done a LOT of great stuff for me). While buying me a nice new car was totally awesome, the Ep. 1 cup toppers gift was just so much more of a personal and meaningful thing to me (though not quite as practical
). It's something I'll definitely never forget it. Thanks for the cup toppers Dad, but thanks even more for the meaning behind the time and effort spent in putting this great gift together! It really meant a lot to me and I'll never forget it...
(complete TPM cup topper set like mine)
