I don’t know why this popped into my head today, but when I was a kid, I loved it when my parents got a new appliance or piece of furniture that came in a huge box.

Back then, you did the install yourself and they usually did not haul away the old appliance. Unfortunately, ours usually ended up on the side of the house or the backyard.

Anyway, back to the box. It was magical. So many possibilities. Position it vertically and it was a rocket or space ship headed for Mars or a skyscraper or a teepee. Lay it horizontally, it became a castle or fort to defend against an unknown foreign invader.,

I’d go into my mother’s kitchen and steal her knives to cut holes int he box - for the build out. I always needed two: 1) One with a sharp pointy tip to start the hole; and 2) Her bread knife with the serrated edge that worked great on cutting cardboard. Another must have was pens, sharpies (although I don’t know if these existed when I was a kid) and markers to outline/accent doors, windows, and to draw symbols on.

We played with it for hours and days if the box held up. Unless the foreign invaders siege was successful by throwing rocks at it (I still have a scar on my head from one such siege). But the big destroyer of the large cardboard box was either mom or dad (throwing it away when were were asleep) or the rain.

I recently replaced my clothes dryer. The delivery service unwrapped the new dryer, installed it, and hauled the old one away. No box. Made me a little sad as I remembered something from my youth and also glad that I didn’t have to breakdown the box and stuff it in my recycle bin over the next two or three trash days.