T-Rex Layaway

A few Friday’s ago, a group of friends decided to get together to watch Jurassic Park for Movie Night 2.0: Raptors & Wine. The first movie night (featuring American Psycho and me drinking WAY too much wine) was such a success that we had to do it again. We met up first at Bin 36 for some wine flights and dinner. Over dinner the boys started reminiscing about the Jurassic Park toys they had when they were younger. Before my ears knew what was happening, I was pulled into one of the best stories I’ve ever heard. Eric explained that he had desperately wanted the T-Rex toy from Jurassic Park, but $32 seemed unattainable to the young Eric. He only received $2 per week for allowance. 

I'm not even sure if this is the right toy, but I really like his "thrashing action"

As luck would have it, the store that housed Eric's desired T-Rex had layaway. Eric’s parents thought this could serve as a fantastic learning experience of patience and devotion. After hearing the whole story, I insisted that Eric and/or his parents write a guest blogpost to capture this amazing tale of parenting. Ken Bill (Eric’s dad) rose to the challenge. Here is his account of how it all went down:


It starts at Hills Department Store in Lafayette, IN 1991. Each time we visited the store, Eric would run to the Dinosaur aisle and stare at the T-Rex and ask “when can I get it?” After many trips it occurred to us that this could serve as a useful teaching moment. Layaway! If he really wanted it, he would be willing to invest in it. And, with patience (not a strength for E, I might add), earn it and acquire it over time. We placed it in layaway. On return trips to the store, instead of going to the Dinosaur aisle where there were several T-Rexes like the one in layaway, E wanted to "visit" his. We had to ask the salesperson if they would retrieve it from the back so that E could see he it was still there. E wanted to hold it. (Editor’s note: That is my favorite part! After contributing his $2 each week, he made the Salesperson bring out his T-Rex to visit! Love it.) After what seemed like an eternity, he would hand it over and say "I'll be back, T".  We didn't make him wait as long as we planned, and finally the day came to rescue T-Rex from the chains of layaway. The look on E's face as the salesperson handed T over for the final time is forever etched in my mind. The good news - now all these years later, E can go to Walmart where they are celebrating the return of layaway!