Not a question, but I just thought you should know:
Duke was always my favorite GI Joe. I used to carry that little figure with me everywhere when I was small. One of my favorite places to play was under our cabin in Prince Edward Island, Canada. My friend and I used to spend hours under there, digging in the dirt with GI Joes, covered in the spiders that lived under the floorboards. Sometimes I would spend all day under there. My mom would bring me hot dogs and pass them through the fence that surrounded the underside of the house. Little kid stuff.
One summer, I lost my Duke figure somewhere in that red dirt. This was heartbreaking. I pined for that figure for YEARS. For maybe four or five summers, I dug up every inch of that soil again and again trying to find him. Some time after puberty hit, I gave up. My mother tried to find another Duke. Maybe they stopped producing the exact model, because we could never find the right one. It seemed that here was no replacing him (you?).
Fast forward to my 21st birthday. As I have gotten older, my attitude towards birthday gifts has gone from "YEEEEEEEEE" to "Meh, just get me socks and underwear". I unwrap some choice boxers from Calvin Klein and a few of those hay-bail sized Costco rolls of athletic socks. I am very happy.
Then my mother tells me she has one more surprise for me.
Ten-plus years later, my mother has hunted down the exact same Duke figurine, still in the box.
I swear, I cried right then and there. Hell, I choked up just remembering this.
So, thanks for returning to me, Duke. This is as close as I think I may ever get to being able to say that to a real person. My mom says 'Hi'.
TL; DR: I love my mom, her and Duke teamed up to resolve my long-standing childhood trauma, and Duke is here in real life... so I'm thanking him on behalf of us both.
OKseriouslytho19 karma
Not a question, but I just thought you should know:
Duke was always my favorite GI Joe. I used to carry that little figure with me everywhere when I was small. One of my favorite places to play was under our cabin in Prince Edward Island, Canada. My friend and I used to spend hours under there, digging in the dirt with GI Joes, covered in the spiders that lived under the floorboards. Sometimes I would spend all day under there. My mom would bring me hot dogs and pass them through the fence that surrounded the underside of the house. Little kid stuff.
One summer, I lost my Duke figure somewhere in that red dirt. This was heartbreaking. I pined for that figure for YEARS. For maybe four or five summers, I dug up every inch of that soil again and again trying to find him. Some time after puberty hit, I gave up. My mother tried to find another Duke. Maybe they stopped producing the exact model, because we could never find the right one. It seemed that here was no replacing him (you?).
Fast forward to my 21st birthday. As I have gotten older, my attitude towards birthday gifts has gone from "YEEEEEEEEE" to "Meh, just get me socks and underwear". I unwrap some choice boxers from Calvin Klein and a few of those hay-bail sized Costco rolls of athletic socks. I am very happy.
Then my mother tells me she has one more surprise for me.
Ten-plus years later, my mother has hunted down the exact same Duke figurine, still in the box.
I swear, I cried right then and there. Hell, I choked up just remembering this.
So, thanks for returning to me, Duke. This is as close as I think I may ever get to being able to say that to a real person. My mom says 'Hi'.
TL; DR: I love my mom, her and Duke teamed up to resolve my long-standing childhood trauma, and Duke is here in real life... so I'm thanking him on behalf of us both.
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