Squares

A lot of buzz about a movie called The Hunger Games.

For a few days,  I thought the movie was a satire of Hollywood body image.

***

My dog finally irritated me.  6 1/2 months of thrilled bliss. . .and then came some kind of bug in his system and middle-of-the-night relief on our rug.

So we penned him up at night, lest he choose a worse place.  He woke me up several times with a bark and I got out of bed to let him out. 

The bright side: no mess to clean in the morning. 

The dark side: it was worse than feeding a newborn all night in that he woke more times than my babies ever had. 

This dark side led to the unpleasant discoveries that

1) without a good night's sleep, I am in poor shape the next day and
2) one night of poor sleep takes be a good 4-5 days to recover from.

I'm kind of thinking that next time, I'd rather just clean up the mess, wherever I may find it.

***

4-square has made a big comeback.  The game, not the house plan. 

I see the squares taped and painted out all over now--in our cul-de-sac, at the park, in our church lobby for youth night, in parking lots.

4-square dominated our recess time in 3rd through 5th grade.  We divided--of our own accord--into a boys' game and girls' game.  We had names for all our serves--The Skyscraper, The Whippit, The Pinball, The Grasshopper. . .

We called it 'being Captain' when you got to the highest square.  Now, the kids call it 'being King.'

***

The supplies for Cubbies craft, snack and story time used to occupy about 2 cubic yards in our family room, stacked unattractively behind our sofa in a space where we normally don't put anything.

There's an American phenomena, a pretty recent one, too, Shakers notwithstanding: space in a home that holds nothing.

7 months of this arrangement and I finally could no longer live with it. 

Bryan had just finished a clever project of building shelves into a space of our basement staircase to hold DVD's etc.

This triggered a reorganizational shift of this stuff here, that stuff there, this other stuff moving downstairs. . . 

And somehow, we ended up with an empty closet in our office.

I hired Gemma, Joshua and the two friends they were playing with outside to carry all the Cubbie stuff upstairs to this closet.

This has left the space behind our couch in our family room empty again.

All that work--beginning with Bryan's project--to achieve empty space in our home.

It's so strangely beautiful to look at.

***

Speaking of Shakers, I fantasize sometimes about having nothing in a home beyond the necessities. 

Possessions cost us something to own, even after we're done paying for them.

Oh, to cut and cut and cut and give away and sell right down to the bone.  But the trick, I suppose, would be defining "necessity."

***

Josh and his next door friend, Josh, are playing Legos as I write.  I love eavesdropping.  Right now, they are debating whose father would win a fight, because both Dads are "so strong." 

So boy.

Gemma has never had this debate--or one like it--ever. 

***

The thing about his age--Gemma's, too, still--is that the basic questions are very clear. 

Dog?  Awesome.

4-Square?  Great to be King.

Daddy?   Strong.

Legos?  Necessary.