BOOTHBAY

As the parent of a 3-year-old boy, my ears have become preternaturally tuned to certain key phrases to which I have nearly- Pavlovian reactions. So when I heard the phrase “Thomas the Tank Engine” being uttered in the newsroom several weeks ago, my natural reaction — consisting of knocking back my office chair and entering into what can only be described as a “swoon” — was understandable.

Thomas is a big deal, especially in my home.

My son loves Thomas.

He loves Thomas books. He loves Thomas music. He loves Thomas videos. He loves playing with his 1,258 Thomas & Friends engines, cars, tracks and other assorted items that me and my wife trip over nightly on our way to the bathroom.

I would say the amount of money I’ve spent on officially license Thomas the Tank Engine merchandise now rivals the nation’s debt.

My son, who does not yet know all the days of the week, can recite easily the Thomas theme song and correctly identify every single anthropomorphic engine on the Island of Sodor, of which, at this point, are probably billions.

So when I learned that a real-life Thomas was coming to the Boothbay Railway Village, well, I swooned.

Joey (my son) was going to meet Thomas!

I wasn’t sure how he was going to react. His average Thomas toy is about 4 inches long and made of wood or plastic. Their speech is powered solely by Joey’s imagination. (Typical Thomas conversation: “Hi, Thomas! What are you doing there? I’m Joey! Oh, no! Where’s Percy? Oh, I’m sorry, now we’ll fly in the sky and have a dinosaur! How ’bout some milk?”)

It turns out Joey was pretty cool with seeing a life-size Thomas pull up around the bend (with the aid of one of the village’s genuine, coalpowered locomotives pushing from behind). At first Joey was a bit confused, his face seeming to say, “What did they put in my milk this morning?”

Then, snapping out of his revelry, Joey began telling Thomas how much he loved him.

Repeatedly.

Along with several dozen other excited children and haggard-looking parents, we were pulled by Thomas in a coach around the village. Joey, of course, enjoyed the ride but kept his eye on his favorite blue engine, which was, all of a sudden, a real and tangible thing.

We spent several hours at the village, and left like most typical families — exhausted. I am personally grateful for everyone at the village, who seemed universally cheerful, from the conductors to the engineers to the guides, despite the day’s heat.

Joey slept soundly on the way home, clutching his little wooden Thomas toy in his hand.

I just want to say that I like Thomas. All the engines in the stories created by the late Rev. W. Awdry want to be “Really Useful.” Basically, they have a work ethic. They don’t sit around in their sheds all day pirating movies and pretending to be farmers or mafia lords on Facebook. No, Thomas and his ilk want to be out and about. They want to work.

It’s something that I can admire, and if Joey winds up wanting to be “Really Useful” too, that’s OK by me.

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com