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Katie, Goobie and the Little Red Wagon

There are many cultural references to the “Little Red Wagon”, from songs, trucks and toys, there is even a data security company named after this iconic kid’s favorite.  This week, a little red wagon has changed our lives, ever so slightly.

Friday, on our morning walk around the neighborhood, we came across a garage sale.  Some of our neighbors on the block are moving to Florida and they were selling some of their more bulky possessions to make the move a bit easier.  When our almost-one-year-old son, Jake (aka Goobie) saw the Radio Flyer All Terrain Wagon he started pointing and exclaiming “oh oh oh!!!!”.

To help you understand the importance of this utterance:  Goobie’s vocabulary includes only a few words like “mama”, “dada”, “down” “oh”, “Elmo” and most recently “oops”.  You can guess what most of these words mean, but “oh” is a word that he reserves for only the most important things in the world.  For example, if our dog, Winston, enters the room when Jake needs a playmate he might say “oh.”  When Grammy and Papaw come for a visit, he might say “oh” when they come through the door.  If Sesame Street comes on the television he might say “oh” and “Elmo”.  Him saying “oh, oh, oh!!!!” let us immediately know that this wagon was something special.

After a bit of inspection of the quality of the wagon, some discussion with the owner and a quick check of the Amazon Mobile app to make sure the price was fair, we purchased this wagon and took it home.  It only sat in the garage for a couple of hours before the adventures began.

We have only had the wagon for a few days, but it has become a regular part of our daily excursions.  It has made several trips around the neighborhood for our daily (sometimes twice-daily) walks.  It has been to the farmer’s market where, much to the delight of nearly everyone there, Goobie rode around gleefully practicing his “parade wave”.  You would recognize the wave as the side-to-side-wrist-only-fingers-bent-ever-so-slightly wave that is typically reserved for homecoming princesses and beauty queens.

This little red wagon has also made countless trips around our back yard, across “Super-mom’s” back yard (listen to our pilot show if you don’t know about “Super-mom”), and down to “the woods” which is a small strip of trees that separates our neighborhood from an open field adjacent to the County Fair Grounds.  Goobie especially loves the trip to “the woods” where he sometimes points at the trees and wildflowers and says “oh”.

It turns out that this little red wagon has come to represent something very important in our lives.  It represents simple pleasures.  It represents childhood-remembered for most of us.  It represents a great excuse to get outside and walk now that the weather is cooler and more pleasant.  Mostly though, it represents a tangible connection, by way of a metal handle and rubber wheels, that our family can connect with each other and the world around us.