I love Lego!

I love Lego! I love everything about it! I love the texture of the hard, plastic bricks in my hands. I instinctively feel for the studs, the bits that connect one piece to another, a wave of exhilaration overcoming me! The sheer diversity of the bricks, and the ability of them to encapsulate themselves into various colours, astounds me! It’s by far my favourite pastime! I try to keep myself emersed in the Lego world as regularly as financially possible! When I receive a brand-new set, a kaleidoscope of butterflies enters my stomach, trying desperately to escape!

My mother gently chastises me when, what is unmistakably Lego, arrives at the door. Just the sound it makes, which is so distinctive as the pieces hit off one another, screaming for me to play with them, sets her off! The bricks act just as my friends did when I was a child.

‘You haven’t ordered more!’ she looks at me with confusion on her face. ‘Where in the name of God am I going to put it?’ She asks looking at the box, asking that same question each and every time I receive a delivery. Mom says it automatically now, not knowing what the result looks like, or how big it will be! In her defence, the box it comes in is deceptively big. It always exaggerates the true size of the set!

I look at her and smile, a cheeky grin covering my face! I take the box in which it comes, the size, depending on what set I order, and bring it into the sitting room where I plonk myself on a cushion I have stolen from the couch. I quickly, and carelessly, open the packaging, excitement brewing as I get nearer to the set I worked hard for!

I throw the brown cardboard box in the direction of the door, not having a care in the world where it lands. I can hear a noise in my head, like a sound effect from a movie, in awe that the item I ordered days before is finally here! (I always discard the packaging before my mother retires in front of the TV for the night!) I study the pictures on the box from the front, then the back, and finally the sides. As my excitement grows, the longing to feel the plastic bricks in my hands increases!

When I initially open a brand-new set, with great care and precision, and look at the bricks that seem to come out of the box in droves, I always have to look at the front cover of the instruction book in awe, reminding myself that all of these pieces are going to turn into something majestic!

Before long, I look up and see my mother, a loving smile on her face as she watches me enjoying my self-indulgence. I always feel as though she regrets her initial reaction as she witnesses the amount of pleasure that exudes from my fingers as I place piece after piece in their rightful place!

My legs numb, I look to see the progress of the build, amazement spilling across my face at the amount of detail the pieces create.

The last set I completed, for example, was from the Harry Potter franchise. It was the Ministry of Magic set and, whilst it looked incomplete from the front when finished, when I turned it around, I studied that which is Professor Umbridge’s office for example. Though only a fraction of the build, it has all the details that I imagine her office to contain just as in the books, down to the plates with pictures of cats displayed on the walls!

That’s the beauty of Lego…the details! As I hear the click of one brick being attached to another, I get goosebumps!

I love Lego! I love everything about it! I yearn for the opportunity to feel the texture of those hard, plastic bricks in my hands again! Instinctively feeling for the studs ready to connect one to the other, waiting for a new adventure!