So when I was born it didn't take long for my parents to realize that I had a pretty severe case of strabismus (aka "lazy eye"), in which the eye "turns in", leaving you permanently cross-eyed.
At about three years of age I went into the hospital for corrective surgery. The first memories I retained were basically of this experience, including the initial exam by the doctor, through being wheeled off to surgery and getting the bandages removed and realizing that wasn't going to be blind!
Strangely, perhaps the most vivid memory I have of this entire experience was that first afternoon while waiting for things to get started -we were all in some sort of common room, settling down to eat a snack and watch some TV. Now, at the time one of the most popular kids' shows in our area (Los Angeles) was "Engineer Bill". He did a "Red Light, Green Light" schtick in which you drank your milk to the signals, he plays cartoons and yes, had little visitors who were allowed to drive his model train set.
Now, in my mind this was just about the coolest show on TV, but apparently some of the older, less enlightened kids preferred some other stupid cartoon show so there was a tension in the air. Soon, there was active disagreement, and then, yes - open conflict! the nurses had to intervene and, YES! WE WON!
So, I went on to get the surgery, spent a couple of days strapped to a bed with bandages over my eyes and such, but none of that mattered - we got to drink our milk on cue and watch Engineer Bill run the train and go through the mail bag. Take that, wussie older kids!
So today, when I need a user name and don't want to give away more about myself than that I might have grown in LA back in the {mumble-early '60s-mumble} and just might also seem to have some affinity (okay, obsession) with old trains, that's my go-to string of letters...