In the sandbox, the boys were waging a war. A city built, then missiles arrived to destroy it. Not nuclear, the newly-8 grandson assured us. When they came to the table on the deck for their lunch, they told us about it. It was either WW4 or 5, imaginary, and almost everyone was killed. All 9 of them, though some went to hospital to recover, which was hard, because it too had been bombed and the injured were lying in the open air. It’s hard to build a civilization, E. confided. And what will the civilization require, we wondered. He thought for only a moment: A public library, a SuperStore, a museum, and a hotel with a swimming pool. They boys finished their lunch and went back to work.
I mean, of course a pool……
Yes, of course!
This broke my heart. What a world we are handing our children. Beautiful boys. Their imaginations will save it.
They are both wise and innocent. The younger one assured me as they played a game of WW4 or 5 — he wasn’t sure — that they weren’t using “nuclear bombs”. And that the civilization they were rebuilding centred around a public library, a SuperStore, a museum, and a hotel with a swimming pool. (2 out of 4 ain’t bad?)
Thank you so much for these glimpses, Theresa.
So sweet. -Kate
I love the serious attention they give to play.