A Toy Story, with Paper Guys

Tonight as I watched Toy Story 3 for the first time, I started thinking about earrings made of toys. There are many squirreled away here in the home where I raised my three kids. But the ones that caught my eye when I wandered into my son's room were his hand-made toys, the ones he dubbed Paper Guys--his own art form. For years, Willem created his own action figures so that he could relive the stories he loved in books, movies, and comics.


He would read a book.



Then he'd spend hours making Paper Guys.



He made hundreds of action figures over the years. In 3rd grade he created a Time Line of World History using 100 paper guys, starting with the Titans, then the Greek Gods, and ending with modern soldiers and astronauts. Now, as Toy Story's Andy heads off to college, my son Willem is about to graduate.

So I thought I'd bring a pair of Paper Guys back to life as earrings, to dangle on my rack, reminding me of the joy to be found by creating whatever you can imagine.