Every Sandcastle Needs a Hideout
My 12-year-old great-nephew built a sandcastle with an emergency hideout, and I think he’s on to something.
Photo by Marko Brečić on Unsplash
Fall weather is finally here.
After dealing with temps in the 90s last week, we are expecting a low of 36 degrees tomorrow, and I couldn’t be happier. The leaves are changing from a boring shade of green to various other shades of earth tones, just before turning brown and dancing in the wind, giving up the ghost for the winter. Throw in the fact that the Nebraska football game is scheduled for 10 p.m. Central this weekend and it feels perfect.
Not only am I a fall guy, but I’m also a night owl who savors this time of year when the sun goes down early and darkness settles in. The evenings feel longer, slower. I could be over-romanticizing this, since that’s often my tendency, but this time of year seems quieter too.
My wife, Clarissa, and I moved to a new neighborhood this summer, so we haven’t experienced fall yet here. We have a park across the street that I’m looking forward to visiting as the temps drop. Clarissa took my great-nephew there a couple of weeks ago. They slipped off their shoes and built a sandcastle (that looked like a fort), complete with a watchtower, treasure room, dining room, bed, countertops – and for the grand finale, a flag. It even had a separate emergency hideout.
It makes me sad to think that a 12-year-old incorporates an emergency hideout into his sandcastle world, but that’s the reality we live in. Either that, or he’s watched too many movies with battle scenes.
All I know is, when I was 12 and digging forts in the sand with a spoon in the alley behind our house with a friend, it never dawned on me to create a separate emergency hideout for my plastic army men. But I guess I did spoon out a tunnel to help my guys evade the oncoming rocks we took turns firing at each other’s fort. So maybe my great-nephew is just more advanced than I was.
In fact, as I think about it, I realize he’s on to something. We all need a place to retreat when life gets hard. So, for me, the emergency hideout can be found in long, quiet, fall evenings – some of which will be spent around the fire pit in my backyard, where the logs snap and pop.
There is a downside to all this – fall-like weather only lasts about a month here in the Midwest. Don’t get me wrong, I love winter too. But winter has its own feel – its own sense of beauty. And as much as I’m looking forward to it, I’d like to hit pause on fall and stay in my hideout a bit longer.
