Tree House

September 20th, 2016

Have you ever dreamed of having your own tree house when you were a child? There seems to be a universal desire to hang out in a tree house. Perhaps you were one of the lucky ones who actually had a tree house.

I have always loved and coveted a tree house. As a child, I drew my ideal home as a tree house. It was sophisticated with a slide to exit through the back. I lived in apartments so I never owned one. I once searched for tree homes and found an astonishing amount of houses built in trees. Not plain wooden ones, we are talking luxurious, architecturally diverse homes.

Today, my husband and I built a tree house for our daughters. We spent three hours this afternoon using leftover renovation materials to build it. My husband didn't have a tree home growing up. We were both excited about this project. We excitedly started with the floor and frame, supports and walls. We rummaged through materials and made stuff up as we worked.

We work well together and, although the house is not complete, we have a pretty sturdy, fun-looking tree loft. The house has a floor, a ladder, three walls and we threw in some IKEA chairs at the last minute. We were so excited to see the girls' reactions as they got off the bus. They ran over and climbed in. My husband was waiting for them. I went in the house with their school bags and headed for the kitchen to grab some cold juices. I wasn't even done filling one juice container. The girls were back inside. I handed over the juices and asked if they had been in the tree house. They had. They went upstairs to play in their room.

I walked out and over to my husband. He was still working on the structure. I asked him what happened. He said they loved it. I was perplexed. Why aren't they still here? Apparently, because we placed the parachute on top of the structure, our eldest felt that it was too short for her, she couldn't stand up. I was disappointed. My husband and I kept working on bracing the sides for at least 30 minutes. As we worked, I realized this tree house was for our inner children. We were building this to satisfy our own needs. We were having fun. The fact that our daughters' reaction was less than enthusiastic did not curb our own excitement.

We love our little tree house. I hope the girls give it a chance and enjoy it for many years ahead. If they don't, my husband and I will.

Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org