☆ Childhood Stars ☆

    When I was a little kid, I was terrified of the dark. I firmly believed that if I didn't sprint to my room after turning off the light, I would be abducted by the evil ghosts of the house. To help with this, my parents bought me a firefly night light. It was the best toy I had ever received in my life. It was a green little firefly that illuminated stars onto the ceiling in red, blue, and green arrays. I slept with it every night, gazing at each little star. I'm not sure if it piqued my interest in the stars but I think it had enough of an impact to assume so. I don't know anything about other people's experiences with their toys, but I feel my firefly had a huge impact on who I am today. That sounds cheesy, but it makes sense that the things I used to surround myself with connect me with what I currently like. While it could've been any action figure or TV character, it was instead an animal. Growing up and to this day, one of my favorite movies is The Princess and the Frog, which presents a firefly in love with a star named Evangeline. While I might just be delusional and connecting random parts of my life to a simple toy, I think the toys we played with define a lot about us. Not in who we are or our gender but rather our emotional connections to it. Would I have eventually gotten over my fear of the dark without it? Probably. I probably would've fallen in love with the stars without it too. The point is as a child I grew up with it. It was my favorite thing in the world and it made me happy.