Forts & Villages

I saw the relationship between my children change in significant ways this summer.

I'm sure a large part of it is due to each of them getting older so they're playing well with each other instead of the younger ones always destroying creations of the older ones.  My oldest and third-born have never gotten along well with each other.  Now, they will spend hours playing Legos together and actually enjoying the company of the other.  Whatever the cause is, it was a true joy to watch and listen to all of them play with each other (the majority of the time.  Don't get me wrong - they still fight.)

One of the things that I loved witnessing was the creation of their forts and villages.  It started small.  My daughter became obsessed with wanting to sell things after a friend and I had a garage sale earlier this summer.  She would go to the neighbors' houses and they would graciously buy stones from her.  She thought she would try her hand at selling sticks and that was when the oldest came into play.

"Let's set up stick stores in the backyard," I heard him say one morning.  They all tromped out, collected sticks, and set up "stores" in our backyard (which feels woodsy despite the fact we live in town.)  Their currency was in air soft bullets that they found around the back yard, leftover evidence from kids on another block passing through during an escapade.  Every morning they would head out to the backyard after breakfast and I would call them in for lunch.  The afternoon looked similar.  I would clean out air soft bullets from pockets and the lint trap in the dryer.

Soon their individual stores became a village.  A bank and a jail sprouted up as they started playing "Cops and Robbers."  Visiting friends and cousins set up their store fronts when they came to play.  A mayor was elected (naturally, my oldest, except when his cousin of the same age was visiting and then they shared the title.)  They spent almost the entire summer playing together this way.

Forts popped up everywhere we went.  While playing with friends at the beach, a girls' fort and boys' fort were formed in the dune grass and a "Capture the Flag" type game ensued.  My friend and I loved looking up at the hill and seeing our boys in their adventuring state, looking like survivors in the wild: sticks at the ready.

We went camping with my family in mid-August and were not surprised to see the excitement as they discovered areas along the shore covered with limestone that quickly became forts and stone stores.  If they weren't up by the tents eating, they were down in their forts playing, lost in a world they had created.

I loved this summer.  I loved watching the way their creativity flourished.  I was stunned to see the depths to which their imaginations could take them within the detail of their forts and villages.  More than anything, I loved seeing them want to play with each other - from the 10 year old to the 7 year old to the 5 year old to the 3 year old.  Each desired the company of the other to make their village run smoothly.

Last night after dinner, my husband and I sat at the table, lingering.  We saw our youngest in the living room trying to form pillows from the couches into a fort.  His oldest brother saw him and asked, "Do you want me to help you with your fort, Zeke?"  A smile lit up Zeke's face.

"You and me will build a fort, Noah.  Me and you."