A Kid's Perspective

Oct. 12, 2007
As we continue to deal with this crazy house, I'm trying to remain optimistic by looking at the situation through the eyes of my children.
As an adult, I'm quite aware that I won't have a new kitchen floor for at least two weeks, I still have an industrial fan drying my kitchen and I will be without a dishwasher likely for a month.
That aside, my kids think this is a great place. It's the yard, of course. More than an acre of beautiful green space to run and bike and ride their wagon, "The Blur," down the slope from the front yard to the back.
And then there is the creek. Yes, a stream is the boundary of our property. The creek is a world of endless interest to my little guys. They have caught salamanders and crawdads and have seen fish and frogs. And they even have a sitting log. A tree that has fallen across the creek is the perfect place for them to sit and think and chat. "The Nature Show never ends, Mom," Joey told me last night.
They also have a clubhouse. (They started a Little Rascals Club after seeing the 15-year-old movie by that name). Their clubhouse is the potting shed beside the house. It has a light, a floor, shelves -- obviously pots. A door. It's their own little spot. And I think it's OK now that I have cleaned out more than 100 old plastic pots that I feared were harboring snakes or mice or worse.
Our yard is the most level of any I have seen in this Blue Ridge area. But, as we are from Memphis where it is flat, my kids still think it is hilly. And they have named the little slopes from the front to the back yards Mount Zogo and Mount Zagala.
For me, this house is turning out to be a real chore. For them, it is an adventure. So maybe, just for today, I will try to see it through their eyes.