We have been in Maine for a wee bit and there is one thing for sure. Luke finally has a place to go hit a ball, a baseball, a golf ball, a “you name it ball”.
It is a yard big enough for a boy.
This made me go back to one of my other blogs and retrieve a draft post I created years ago, but never finished.
A long time ago I had the privilege of watching David Mamet direct his play Oleanna over the course of many weeks. It was an unforgettable experience to be a fly on that wall but this post only has to do with one line from the play that has always stuck in my head.
..and a yard for the boy
So, when Luke started getting really industrious in our small, trying to be functional yard in Los Angeles I wrote this:
I have been working feverishly to have a yard for my son Luke that is a place where he wants to explore, work, play, hide and discover. I feel I have done pretty well.
He never ceases to amaze me in his own exuberance over things to do in the yard.
It is an interesting process keeping up with Luke’s interests. He likes to work hard at just about anything and is quite adept at doing things on his own. Recently he broke one of his plastic play tools and I realized it was time for a functional (ie real metal) tool kit, it was a blast putting it together and the only stumbling block thus far is the “saw”. He wants a saw and I want to give him a saw, so now he has a saw and it is just a matter of making sure he does cut his finger with it.
He is building a house. He told me that it will be the same size as ours, but have a second story on it and he will use his saw to cut the wood and his monkey wrench to connect the water pipes to the main lines.
Each endeavor seems to bring a lovely and direct approach. The other day he asked about baseball. I said I would be happy to get a bat so we could practice. He ran away and came back with a 1 5/8 inch wooden dowel that was lying around, and you know what, we practiced some baseball!
So now, many years later here we are. Luke loves baseball, dreams about it, plays games by himself about it, follows the stats about it and has a yard big enough to play ball in! So, if nothing else I feel I have accomplished that.
