Passing on the Legacy

I grew up in a home that was full of the magic of fantasy literature and mythology. My folks (mostly my Dad) were great fans of The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, The Last Unicorn, The Pern books by Anne McAffrey, and just about any fantasy work they could get their hands on.
One of the first books I remember receiving was a giant children's encyclopedia of Greek mythology. I quickly added this to the piles of Serendipity books that I also loved to read.

The big one, though, was The Hobbit. My father had a sizable collection of Hobbit items. He had a couple copies of the book, a copy of the movie, posters, the album (with illustrated book)...I can't even remember it all. While I can't even remember the first time I saw the movie (Rankin/Bass), I first read the book when I was around 10 years old. It took me a while longer, but I read The Lord of the Rings shortly after that. By the time I was a true teenager, I was completely enthralled with the magic of Middle Earth.

My passion for fantasy was not limited to the works of Tolkien, though. I had an equal passion for Dragons, Wizards, Dungeons, Princesses, Castles, and all things magical and fantastical.

Another of my passions at the time was The Flight of Dragons, a movie based very loosely on the book by the same name. My father, being the super cool dude that he was, had copies of both.

(by the way, Bro, when we are fighting over our inheritance, I GET THIS BOOK)

So I followed the story of Sir Peter, Gorbash, and Princess Melissande while I read about the 'scientific principles' that allowed dragons to fly and breathe fire.

Now I have children of my own, and they are learning to love the magic of fantasy as much as I have. Big Sprout is reading The Hobbit for the first time, Little Sprout can sing and recite much of the dialogue from the movie. They are enjoying exploring a world of Unicorns and Elves, Dwarves and Dragons. Little Sprout often requests "Elbo", her word for Bilbo, and Big Sprout has been known to pipe up with "Frodo Lives!" now and again.

I love that I have been able to pass this love on to my kids. It is so fun to see them get excited while exploring things that I loved when I was younger (and still do). It just tickles me when Little Sprout stomps her feet and yells "I am stwong.....Stwong.....STWONG!" a la Smaug in The Hobbit. I enjoy humming the tunes from these movies and having Big Sprout join in with me.

It is good.