The Telescope And The Not-So Big Gift

Hey, folks. Today’s Daily Prompt is all about desire. No, not the steamy kind. This is about something you always wanted for Christmas or birthday as a child, but never got. Most kids in the late 80’s/early 90’s would probably say a Super Nintendo, Stretch Armstrong, or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Turtle Power!). But of course, I just had to be the weird one; I wanted a telescope. Not one of those lame kiddie ones, but an actual, legit telescope I could take into the backyard and look at the stars.

Learning about Galileo and watching the Endeavour launch might have been an influence.

Yeah, you can probably imagine how that Christmas went down. Even though I was struggling with long division, I was still savvy enough to know that a telescope was a Big Gift. I knew that kids got the Big Gifts only when they were really good and their parents were rich enough. I knew I was set in the former – I was the #1 Reader in my class – but definitely not the latter. I understood that my mother was working hard just to keep the essentials running, so Big Gifts weren’t likely to happen. However, I failed to notice the more obvious: I was living in the suburbs. With so much light coming from the other houses, stargazing would have been feeble at best. Besides, it’s not like they’d let a little kid go wandering around the neighborhood at night. Nevertheless, I put the telescope on my wishlist and crossed my fingers.

…And my toes and eyes.

I didn’t get it, of course. Pretty sure I got some books and a sweater. However, someone must have decided to meet my wish halfway; a few Christmases later I was surprised to receive the LEGO Space Shuttle Launch Pad. That thing was so good, it became a fixture in my room for almost a decade. It’s still one of my all-time favorite sets. For a kid who knew better than to expect too much, that was a Big Gift all its own.