National Lego Day, wow. In our storage locker lies a stack of tubs filled with a ton of assembled Lego City, Star Wars Lego, Marvel and DC Lego, Space Lego, Harry Potter Lego kits and two racks of minifigures. The latter being my special minifigs collected at various comic cons and specialty shops. My son has entire tub of minifigs all to his own. I always said taking him to a comic con needed its own budget and time allotment for Lego only.

It all started years ago when my son was interested in building Lego and his mother was terrific at it. I never cared for Lego in my own childhood since it was a far different animal than today. However, I just couldn’t take my kid’s anguish and beleaguering self-defeat. I picked up one of his hardest kits back then, his Joker Steam Roller set. I took that thing and built it from start-to-finish before his eyes, my first time ever building Lego.

I invited him to join in and handed him pieces, telling him where they went, and he did in spurts. Mostly he was is in awe of what I was doing. I struggled a couple times, figured it out, and viola! I had it done, hours later. I told my son, “If an old man like me can put one of these together on the first try, there’s no way you can’t do it as well.”

Thus began our infatuation with Lego. At one point, we started to build our own Lego world, grabbing kit after kit with our gift cards and gift money, thinking on “zones” we wanted to do together. I grew addicted to Lego building as a way of relaxing and checking down. Even better when the boyo and I did it together.

He grew older and less interested as teenagers will. I grew busier and life changed dramatically. I miss building with him, even to the point my last kit gifted to me, a Lego Grogu “Baby Yoda” kit was a personal quest to escape from everything. I took the day off to just build, watch baseball casually and toss a few beers, the ultimate “me” party. Still, it felt off without the kid.

I have some pictures buried deep in my archives of us building together, but the Batman ’66 kit you see here was gifted me by the kid. That Macy’s Parade Lego display was something he and I geeked over in NYC last summer.

Moreover, I smiled last week to find my son not only reverting a little by playing Lego-themed video games but pooling through his bin of minifigs in reminiscence. Lego truly affected our lives. Maybe one day we might resurrect the Lego world we meticulously planned in a future basement. Maybe. If not, so be it, but after this long diatribe, if you’re a Lego fan, go build something, or just snap a few bricks today, ‘cuz everything is awesome!

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.