Growing Boys, Bigger Toys

Today I took down the boys' old swing set and hauled it to the municipal recycling center. They have outgrown it, and it was getting rusty and perhaps a little dangerous. Instead of disassembling it with hand tools, I cut it into pieces with my reciprocating saw and a metal-cutting blade. While such amateur destruction made me feel powerful in a rent-a-Rambo kind of way, it also made me a little sad. It symbolized the fact that my little boys are growing into tweens and teenagers. This experience is like a slice of loss with a scoop of pride on top: I will no longer have little children, but I am growing fine men.

I am also starting to build the long-promised treehouse in the backyard. Ryan is helping (read: doing most of it) including cutting down dead branches, designing the zip line "emergency exit" and pricing the lumber. We hope to have the floor up in a few weeks.