Most people just put their finest china in their china cabinet. Not the Takle family. For us, it represents those things we hold dear….and we dare our children to open its sacred doors. The Case of the Untouchables became such after I placed this book inside:
What makes this book so untouchable? This:
It was signed by the king of music himself, Gordon Sumner. Yes, you know him as Sting. I know him as my friend. (Sometimes, I step into Annaville myself.)
The other untouchables belong to Kris. This ridiculous object of affection was won at one of his flight schools. Its value is in the fact he has never won anything except this little lovely:
And, here is where my story and the Case of the Untouchables begin to crumble. My five year old loves legos. He loves building airplanes, trucks, and helicopters from their tiny little pieces that come in the nicely wrapped and numbered plastic bags. This is usually where my OCD kicks in, and I become engaged in these projects that can fill up an entire afternoon. I became so obsessed with my helicopter creation, that I added it to the case. Days, even months, went by, and my son continued to ask if he could play with my, sorry, his helicopter. Again and again, I said no. I know what you’re thinking….how could I? I just could. And, I did. However, one enlightened day, I had an epiphany, and I removed the helicopter from the Case of the Untouchables. And, this is what remains:
I’ve even let him take these once precious legos and place them on top of the wing of another airplane. Unbelievable, I know. But, this was my epiphany: I have one great son, less than five-thousand days until he turns 18, and almost that many legos. So, we are gonna play, and we are gonna play hard. We are gonna put propellers on the front of cars. We’re gonna build, build, build for hours then take it apart. Why? Because, we can. This is our new case:
The rest of the legos are under the bed, on top of our table, in the toy box, in our backyard….and probably in Brew’s belly. We like our new Case of Touchables.
DustyTakle.com 
I think those are some of the same Lego’s that JH had in his pocket that ended up in the bucket at security at the Atlanta Airport! Are you still hearing sirens and bells ?
Ok, now you have me feeling bad about this. I’m SO BAD about once we get legos put together, I want to put them behind a glass case and never let my son touch them again. I’m one of those mothers that will stay up all hours of the night, just to organize all of my sons toys into their proper group and case. “Big legos can’t go with little legos, ARE YOU CRAZY!” I will lie awake at night, until they are in their corresponding containers. It’s an illness and I surely hope there is some cure for it. I’ve gotten better lately and I’ve actually let Mobil toys stay in the same container as Imaginex toys. And I’ve been able to go to sleep at night. This story touched home for me, so I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I need to enjoy my son and toys and not worry about them being in “their place”, so much anymore.
You Rock, Dusty! Keep writing! This has been my “therapy” lately.