What My Father Built

My father was a skilled carpenter and as such, he built many of our play things both inside and out. Outside, he built a slide which was attached to our swing set. He also built a play fort out of wood for us, where we could play soldiers and Indians, which was a very popular game in the 1950s. It even had a look-out tower. Another he built was a jungle gym, or monkey bars, as we called them. We spent hours climbing on the jungle gym and had fun hanging from the bars and moving hand-over-hand on the rungs of the monkey bars. Attached to the jungle gym was a teeter-totter, which I particularly liked.

When we were a little older, Daddy built us a play house. It had windows that opened and a front porch. The spare key to our house was hidden in the recess above the door on the inside of the play house. It was big enough for us to move our table and chairs that my father had made into the play house. We spent many happy hours in the play house which was situated across the driveway from our house. It was nestles in a clearing in the woods near the driveway, near the lilies of the valley.

When we were very young, my father made blocks by cutting shapes from scraps of wood. My mother painted the blocks in bright colors. Being able to make so many things meant we could have many nice play things that we would otherwise not habe been able to afford. My father was very talented and kind to us. He was very creative. We were a priority in his life, and for this, I am grateful.