I opened the giant book that was resting in my lap as I sat on the toilet and started thumbing through the pages. I had this “thing” about not using the boys room at school to go number two, so I waited until I got home to do that, I didn’t ‘trust” that the seats were clean and to this day, I still don’t. I grabbed the Wish Book and took it to the bathroom with me. I came home from school to find the Wish book sitting in the front foyer, on the shiny black “captains chest” mixed with other fliers and mail. As many parents have done for one hundred years, my mother also ordered from the Sears, Montgomery Wards, and the JC Penny’s catalogs and every few months, a new catalog from each store was mailed to the house, one for Fall, one for Spring/Summer, and the coveted Wish Book for Christmas, which was my favorite, almost an entire catalog dedicated to kids, proudly showcasing all the new toys and games for that year, any child’s dream! I shared the same excitement as any other boy would have at that age when that catalog finally arrived but secretly I looking was looking forward to other things in these catalogs as well.
