Tonight...Adventures in the Jungle

There was a time when I saw things through the eyes of a child. What does Paul say? "When I was a child I thought as a child, and when I became an adult I put away childish things." Something like that anyway. But every now and then I wish I hadn't put those childish things so far away.

MD and Lou Lou built another fort today. There is nothing new in that. It happens 3 times a week or more. Every pillow, every blanket, every stuffed thing in the house makes an appearance. There is some fighting over who will engineer this particular project. And who will be the first to enter said fort, but mostly there is just a lot of giggles and laughter.

Today was no different. I was making dinner. They were busy upstairs. I was relieved that for the moment they weren't under foot and close to a hot stove, or dragging mud over the fresh carpet. The relief is temporary because I know that if they are quiet, something messy is taking place just out of my line of vision.

Sure enough, Jungle Fort 2008 was being constructed. At its peak, it was a grand thing. Two tunnels and a large middle room thingy that was supported by my Kirby and the laundry basket. MD and Lou Lou were so proud. I tried to smile and say how creative they were, but honestly, all I saw was a mess. A mess I would have to fight them to clean up because dragging out is always more fun than dragging back.

Somewhere, way down deep, I remember pillow forts with my brother. In our eyes it really was a jungle, or train, or desert hut, whatever we happened to have seen on TV that day. And I am sure we did not like to clean it up, and I am equally sure our mother hated it, though I don't recall her saying so. But to us, it was magic. For a moment we were not children with little choice in our own life. We were heroes, villains, Indians and so much more. We were learning cooperation and team work. We were fully alive.

So, tonight, instead of making them tear down the fort before they could eat dinner, it stayed up. Well, some. The dogs gave it a bit of a beating during a game of "I can get the cat first." And after dinner it stayed up too. In fact, it is still up and they are sleeping in the off shoot. The "tree loft" if you will. Sorry Paul, tonight I am not ready to put away my childhood things, not my kids' anyway. Tonight I will not see a big mess that is all out of place. Tonight I will see a jungle fort, and two heroes, worn out from taming monkeys and lions. Tonight I will see life through child eyes again. Then I will give them each a kiss on their soft chubby cheeks, play with their hair for a minute or two and put an extra blanket over the explorers...just in case it rains in the jungle tonight.