My boss, John Hardwick, likes to restore old things. He does amazing work and I love seeing the finished projects. One of John’s current projects is to restore a Radio Flyer tricycle. He needed new back wheels for the tricycle, so he went online to eBay to try to find another tricycle with the parts that he needed. He found one that was in good shape and bought it. John realized later that he had actually bought the 10-inch *toy* version of the full-size tricycle by mistake. While telling me the story, John mentioned that he didn’t know what he was going to do with the toy tricycle. I suggested that he redo it and sell it on eBay for American Girl dolls. John thought that was a great idea. A couple of days later, John stopped by my office to ask what Laura’s favorite colors were, so that he could redo the toy tricycle for *her* American Girl dolls. I was stunned and so thankful that he had thought of her. Fast forward a couple of weeks and the tricycle is ready complete with official “Saige” stickers. Yesterday, I told Laura that John had made something for her dolls and she would never guess what it was. Each guess – and there were multiples – was incorrect. I brought the tricycle home and set it up on the kitchen table with her American Girl dolls. Then, I called her upstairs for the big reveal. (Yes, I did get it on video and post it to Facebook for everyone to see.) Laura was so surprised! She asked “Are you kidding me?” twice and said the tricycle was awesome. Laura requested that I take a picture of her and the dolls with the tricycle so that she can make a thank you card for John. I just wanted to say a special thanks to John for thinking of her and for working so hard on it! She just loves it, and I foresee many hours of playtime ahead!
