The date: October 2006.

Imagine you're a kid. You see a cool Lego kit at Target & beg your parents for it. This thing costs somewhere between $75 and $100 but no matter, you don't understand the value of money yet anyway. They tell you, "no, it's too expensive. Maybe for your birthday..."

Your birthday approaches & you wonder if you'll get this Lego kit. You rip through your gifts hoping that the next one will be it and then.....

PAYDIRT!! There it is! Star Wars LEGO Star Destroyer!! WOW!!!

Beside himself, Padawan-Wan waits patiently for 3 days while Hubby-Wan puts this thing together. Usually, Mom & Dad put together the big kits as a team, but there was something overwhelming to mom's circuitry that as soon as the box was opened, and she saw the many bags filled with thousands of grey pieces, a spring popped in her brain, steam trailed from one ear & she disappeared into the kitchen for some comfort food, leaving Hubby-Wan to deal with the kit himself.

Thankfully, all the bags of pieces were labeled to follow the instructions & to make life a bit easier. Because he was laboring away late at night, after the Padawan went to bed, he'd only spend an hour or two on it. This then took him 3 nights to put together & when he was finished, he thought he truly was top Lego Dog of the Galaxy. And you know what? He was just a little bit more my hero after that feat.

We presented Padawan-Wan with this crowning achievement in Lego architecture the next morning to thundrous screams & hollers! We showed him the little Imperial R2 unit that came with the kit, the mouse droids, the Imperial officers, the hologram Emperor & another Darth Vader. We made it clear that the bridge was NOT to be removed by him - if he wanted it off the ship, he had to ask one of us to do it (there was a little button at the bottom of the ship to release the bridge). He could open the panels to reach the inside of the ship on his own, but he had to be very careful about it. We supervised the first few tentative tries to open the panels, we were pleased with what we saw, and entrusted this masterpiece to his care.

In his room, he has is old Thomas the Tank Engine play table. This is a table Hubby-Wan & I constructed ourselves because we didn't have $250 to throw away on a table "specifically" for Thomas Trains. That seemed silly to us, so we used an old coffee table my dad pulled from someone's garbage on his street!, screwed on a piece of plywood (4'x2') & used 2 "landscape" vinyl play mats (yes, these were "official" Thomas accessories) as a covering for the wood to construct our very own table. It cost us about $50 to make.

Anyway, he still has this table though he hasn't played with his trains, so he uses it as a Lego station now. It looks a lot like Lego City from Lego SW II video game! So this is a good thing for him. The Star Destroyer, along with his B-Wing, Jedi Starfighter, V-Wing, A-Wing, TIE Interceptor & Slave I, is parked on the table. He plays happily for hours in his room with his models & for several months all was quiet on the western front.

That was until the Rebel Fleet attacked.

Just before dawn one chilly morning in February 2007 the Rebel Fleet amassed on the far corner of the Lego table. The ships in general disrepair, but capable of flight. The general dons his Darth Vader Voice Changer Mask & Harry Potter cape, a pair of Old Navy Slippers on his feet & a lightsaber in his hand. His troops wait anxiously for his command. Then it comes: "ATTACK!!!"

Ships hurl through the air, throwing themselves against the hull of the Star Destroyer, smashing again & again & again until thousands of bricks are strewn across the table - grey, yellow, red, marroon, white, black, blue - character heads rolling helplessly to the floor, torsos, legs, hands, hair, hats, lightsabers, blasters falling into the carpetting. *BANG!* we can hear the commotion from the warmth of our own bed & know what this commotion means - something is being destroyed. We pull the covers over our heads & hope that it's all just a bad dream.

A few moments later, Padawan-Wan stumbles into our room. "Mom? Can you help me fix the Star Destroyer?"

Hubby-Wan & I pull ourselves out of bed, knowing what we're about to see, bracing for the shock of the sight, gathering our groggy wits about it. Would we yell at him? What would we do?

We were rendered speechless by the destruction wrought that morning. I have not weeped over a toy since I was a child & lost a teddy bear on the kindergarten school bus. But that morning I fought back tears. Hubby-Wan's knees threatened to buckle, I swear I saw his lip quiver.

"I need to make some coffee," was all he could say.

I gathered up the broken remains of the Star Destroyer & the other ships into separate boxes & baggies. The Star Destroyer pieces lay in the cover of it's original box, I placed the instructions booklet over it's broken remains. The body lay in state in our room on the chest at the end of our bed for a week. All of us passing it quietly each day, saying little prayers that we would be able to successfully put it back together.

Now, several months later, the courage to rebuild the technological terror still has not risen in either of us. The Star Destroyer in it's box has now been moved to a cabinet where we can't see it every day & be depressed over what could have been & what could be should we ever put it back together.

Someday.... the Star Destroyer will fly again. Until then, it's muffled cries can be heard late at night, ghosts of the grisly attack the Rebels inflicted in that great & terrible battle of February 2007, that brought about the liberation of the galaxy.