fort.

Last night we celebrated the dedication of a building my brother designed from the ground up, pretty much the entire inside to the total out (he even picked out the office furniture, something the architect normally doesn't do). I am so proud of him. He is three years older than me, and we liked to fight when we were kids- normal sibling stuff. We also liked to have fun together as kids- it wasn't all squabbles. One of our favorite places to have fun was in the backyard. Somehow we had all of this old plywood leftover (did my father dismantle a shed? a giant sandbox? I don't recall...). Anyhow, my brother decided one day he would build us a fort. The main fort had an upstairs and a downstairs, just like our house. If I remember correctly you had to hoist yourself up on the fence and then climb a branch to get "upstairs." I remember "tidying up" the area while he built- raking a stick through the sandy dirt "sweeping the floors." I felt so special, so important, being able to help my big brother build our fort. It seems there was another fort- a free-standing one story, that was sort of dome-like. It was a yurt! Well I don't know. When you are grown up and you remember stuff from your childhood things seem all grand and huge. A shoebox might be remembered as a refrigerator box. That is what is so beautiful about childhood- the discovery of it all, how magical and amazing even an old discarded piece of plywood can become. The happy memory makes me feel all giddy- a summers evening, all warm outside, the faint whiff of our mimosa tree, climbing around in the hedge of old oaks at the back of our yard... it is really getting dark now, the moment when the sky is that beautiful inky indigo, I can hear my mom calling us in to eat or bathe, or go to sleep. ahhhh. Now that I have Henry I am remembering these things more- I can't wait for him to make these sorts of memories. We have such a big backyard, so many places for him to explore. He has his whole life ahead of him! Being free to experience these things, play, make them up as you go, can lead to all sorts of things. Tommy has shown us that with his buildings.... I told him I just hope the american cancer society building is a bit sturdier than our old fort!
There is a picture of my brother, all blurry. He and Beth treated us all to dinner last night, which was such a nice thing to do!
If you click on the funhaus link to the right you can see pictures of the building that was just dedicated.