Aaaahhhhh… siblings. Sure, no one can drive you crazier than a brother or sister, and around here, it’s the same as anywhere else. There’s lots of bossing, bickering and button-pushing, but every now and then, there is also hours and hours of…playing! And for the past year, their favorite thing to do together has been to weave a tale and play it out. Above are just a few of the characters I’ve stumbled upon when we’re all at home during a lazy afternoon, weekend, or school break. Superheroes, spies, travelers, knights, gladiators, tourists, kings and queens, and many more have traversed our hallways, rooms and backyard. There are almost always supplies and weapons because you never know who you might meet out there in this big crazy world, or where you might have to camp out for a few days should you get lost whilst looking for treasure. There may be mountains to climb, innocents to rescue, messages to decode or ancient rings that must be destroyed to save civilization as we know it.
I remember when my and my sister’s bunk bed was a pirate ship in dangerous waters with man-eating sea monsters all around. We draped the bottom bunk on all sides to create the captain’s cabin, flew a flag from the crow’s nest and concocted all kinds of methods for getting on and off those beds without touching the floor, and thus, avoided being eaten alive! The picnic table in the backyard with a striped umbrella in the center also doubled as a time machine that took off through other dimensions when you spun the umbrella as fast as you could, then the yard, the trees, the cars in the driveway, and the garage would transform into dozens of different places, times and planets, each offering its own unique adventure.
Every time I see my kids inventing a new world, part of me wants to take off with them, and sometimes I do. But most of the time, I’m just very thankful that they have each other, and their wonderful imaginations, so that while they voyage to the farthest reaches of the universe, I can steal away for a few hours to do whatever needs doing.