113 Marbles
When I was in elementary school, we used to pinch our cheeks together and say this phrase, “I’d like to live in a pirate ship.” The phrase came out sounding like, “I’d like to live in a pile of sh--” (hard to believe it, but it made us giggle). There is a man in our neighborhood that has taken the phrase (minus the cheek action) to a whole new level. For Halloween he builds a pirate ship around the front of his house. Yesterday I drove by and saw him already at work despite the fact that Halloween is over three weeks away.
Apparently he’s a contractor by trade and his wife complains about money from renovations going to pay for the crazy ship. For weeks before hand he spends hours perfecting the spookiness of the ship with motion-detected spiders that drop from the broken deck, moving skeletons, scary tunes, etc. Equipped with his new pirate accent, he tries his pranks out on his two young daughters who are growing scared of their own house. His wife speculates, “When is he going back to work?” His daughters wonder, “Who took our father and left us with a pirate?” And when Hallowed Eve is done, he has to disassemble it all and rent a unit to store all his paraphernalia for 300 odd marbles.
I feel for his family but I’ve got to hand it to him for his spirit. He gets right into character with a wooden pegged-leg prosthetic. Last year he wore a scarf around his head but this year he plans on wearing a tricorne or three-cornered hat worn by the pirate captain. What I like most about him is that he continues to play despite being an adult. I’d like more play in my life, wouldn’t you?
How challenging it is to keep your inner child alive while balancing the responsibility of the adult who goes to work, pays the bills, and gets the oil changed in the car? What would help you remember to play?
When I was in elementary school, we used to pinch our cheeks together and say this phrase, “I’d like to live in a pirate ship.” The phrase came out sounding like, “I’d like to live in a pile of sh--” (hard to believe it, but it made us giggle). There is a man in our neighborhood that has taken the phrase (minus the cheek action) to a whole new level. For Halloween he builds a pirate ship around the front of his house. Yesterday I drove by and saw him already at work despite the fact that Halloween is over three weeks away.
Apparently he’s a contractor by trade and his wife complains about money from renovations going to pay for the crazy ship. For weeks before hand he spends hours perfecting the spookiness of the ship with motion-detected spiders that drop from the broken deck, moving skeletons, scary tunes, etc. Equipped with his new pirate accent, he tries his pranks out on his two young daughters who are growing scared of their own house. His wife speculates, “When is he going back to work?” His daughters wonder, “Who took our father and left us with a pirate?” And when Hallowed Eve is done, he has to disassemble it all and rent a unit to store all his paraphernalia for 300 odd marbles.
I feel for his family but I’ve got to hand it to him for his spirit. He gets right into character with a wooden pegged-leg prosthetic. Last year he wore a scarf around his head but this year he plans on wearing a tricorne or three-cornered hat worn by the pirate captain. What I like most about him is that he continues to play despite being an adult. I’d like more play in my life, wouldn’t you?
How challenging it is to keep your inner child alive while balancing the responsibility of the adult who goes to work, pays the bills, and gets the oil changed in the car? What would help you remember to play?
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