The Super Deluxe Ultimate Deck Of Doom

That is the title of the deck that Cristian has FINALLY finished assembling for the big Yu-Gi-Oh tournament tomorrow.  We picked up the last components of this sinister deck last night and Cristian is positive that he will be triumphant on Saturday thanks to the meticulous selection and combination of 'rare' and 'common' cards that he has labored tirelessly over for the entire week.  So last night we went to the mall armed with THREE ziplock baggies full of coins (so help me God).  When I agreed to swing him by the card store, I had no idea that I would be a prisoner at the back register for the next 40 mins while he agonized over WHICH 13 common cards to select and just when I thought I was in the clear and the final card was plucked from the binder and carefully passed to the clerk, he proceeded to count out $24 in nickels, dimes, and quarters.  And as I stood there leaning on one heeled foot, then the other, I thought to myself...if I think this is bad...wait until I'm stuck here on Saturday for only God knows how long while my son is embroiled in a heated Yu-Gi-Oh battle.  Oh the injustices of parenthood!  and as I was internally whining about the demise of my Saturday afternoon, thats when I turned and saw it.  Plain as day...almost as if a heavenly light from above had cast its illumination upon it for one brief and glorious  moment.  It was the Kool-Aid Man comic book. The same one that, as a kid, I had read and re-read and read again.  The same one that had moved with me from Minnesota to Houston to the Rio Grande Valley.  The exact one that was now sitting in a landfill somewhere because it wasn't a cool X-Men book and it didn't even have not one of my favorite Marvel characters on its cover.  The very Kool-Aid Man comic book that I can never forget because the cover featured the simple and unforgettable creatures that I would one day draw in my own little comic world.  The Evil Electrical Buzz guys.  I forget what they were actually called but there was Kool-Aid Man bursting onto the scene in his typical wall crashing way as the evil electrical buzz guys frantically tried to destroy the world.   hallelujah.  and for only $3.00 I could once again own this treasure from my childhood.  but then I looked down at my little guy...who looked up at me with my own large brown eyes and perpetually imploring look...and I handed over my last $3 because, you see, that last 'rare' card was imperative to the survival of Cristian's deck and with twelve $.25 common cards and one spectacular $30 (yes that says THIRTY dollar) 'rare' card, my little money mongering Yu-Gi-Oh fanatic was precisely $3.00 short.  and when we skipped out of there a couple of minutes later Christian informed me that his newest 'rare' card was for his little brother.  bless his heart.  he was going to use it in the tournament but forever thereafter it was Peepers card and when Peepers gets a little bit older (or a lot older) he would use this very card in HIS first Yu-Gi-Oh tournament but until that time, Cristian would keep it safe for him.  and as I was informed of all this, I realized...he was serious.  and he meant this.  and someday he WOULD present this card to his little brother in his signature dramatic fashion.  and I saw my older son smile with all the freedom of innocence and goodness.  and I felt all the love of parenthood wash over me in one warm gush.