YO! Triple Action Deluxe

How many of you have a yoyo nearby...or in a drawer...or in a box in the garage?  I remember a few times when I was young that to master the yoyo gave you a right to strut around,  yoyo in hand...always with a group of curious onlookers following you.   Ah...but the yoyo craze was replaced with Silly Putty which was replaced with  the hula hoop which was replaced by the Slinky.  All of these toy fads are cyclical and seem to return ' New and Better!'

But this post is about the yoyo.  I checked the website Duncan yo-yo Company and found a lot of trivia that I won't include here...but if you are curious...check it out.  Did you know the yo-yo is:

 The oldest surviving yo-yos have been tracked  to 500 BC. The yo-yos were terra cotta disks, decorated with paintings of mythological figures. Archeologists theorize that Ancient Greek kids gave these yo-yos as offerings at the appropriate temple, as part of a coming-of-age ceremony. A Greek vase from this period is painted with the image of a boy playing yo-yo. (taken from the website)

Those of you who know me or have followed my blog know that one of my very best friends and mentors...actually a member of the family is Rae LeCompte.  She is retired now...but was principal of the middle school where I was the counselor a number of years ago.  At one of our assemblies there was a pro yo-yo- guy...doing various tricks on his  Specialty De-luxxe Duncan Yo-yo, much to the fascination of the students.   He made one mistake....asking the principal (Rae) to come to the stage and try a couple of tricks...he would instruct her.  I have to smile at this part...because he was a bit arrogant...waiting for Rae to get all tangled in the string.  Rae, being in her 60s did not look like a yo-yo whiz.

She first refused the yo-yo he handed her and asked to use his.  Next the students saw their principal morph into her childhood when she had been a yo-yo champ.  She went beyond the "Sleeper", "Around the World" or "Walking the Dog" that the pro had shown.  After she warmed up on those she began "Rocking the Baby", "Three Leaf Clover" and her finale was the "Pinwheel."  The students went wild applauding and cheering.    The Pro overcame his shock and surprise with grace and held up Rae's hand in triumph.

Santa left a yo-yo in my husband, Ray's, stocking this Christmas.  I really wasn't surprised to see that he was quite good at handling the yo-yo.  I told him about Rae outsmarting the Yo-Yo Pro and we decided to take the yo-yo to Florida when we visited her in February.   She was able to do some tricks...but this yo-yo was not a Super Deluxe so it did not have the pizzazz.  Still, it was fun and we left the yo-yo there.  On our return home we stopped by a place called South of the Border (kind of a tourist trap but fun...maybe topic for another post).  There we found the Triple Action Yo-Yo.  It found its way into our van along with the bag of oranges.  We can't wait to take it to Rae to see what she can to with a super duper deluxe triple action yo-yo.  Get ready, Rae....it won't be long.