Wherever You Hang Your Hat

Last year when I was doing a major landscape redesign, turning most of my yard into garden, I purposely pruned the forsythia to create a little cove underneath for children to play in. Literary and cinematic memories, perhaps mixed with some blurry ones of my own childhood, had me imagining my girls using the spot for a dinosaur cave, a prairie house, an oceanfront restaurant, and many other kid-hide-out games. For some reason, maybe because there were so many other new sights to discover in our now nearly lawn-less yard, this forsythia fort never took hold.

Now, suddenly, this Spring, it has been discovered by the first grader in our house. She is so excited about it that our usually late sleeper is often the first one up and dressed, and she's out in the fort from right after breakfast until it's time to leave for school. She told me yesterday after school that she is even writing about it. When I opened her pack last night, I found this inside.





Of course, she figured out yesterday that her big sister wants to be a part of things, too, and that imaginative play is more fun when they play together. Sometimes, though, it's a retreat for one. And here is where I found her this morning.





Where do you go for a moment's stillness? Where do you call home?




Peace.