The future we envision as children

There are not many things that I do today that I did when I was six years old. That is, in part due to experience -- my reading, writing and math skills have improved markedly -- and in part because of what's now available -- TiVo, a valid driver's license, the Internet.

Yet on Saturday morning -- I had cartoons on the television and a bucket of LEGO bricks spilled out on my ottoman. Although with cartoons -- my acumen for understanding exactly what is going on has precipitously declined with age.

The dog I said I would own since I was three years old, slept beside me on the couch. I was drinking a huge glass of iced coffee as the temperatures outside dipped into the teens. That seemed very un-adult to me.

And for close to two hours, I played like I was six years old again. I built without a clear purpose, fitting specialty bricks together to see, like clouds floating past, what shapes might appear. My teeth remained safely behind my lips, courtesy of a brick separator -- which to me is as amazing an invention as TiVo.

The biggest attraction to building with LEGO bricks? Forgetting that 25 years have passed.

Image via Helico.