Nate wrote the following essay for Powells.com that elaborates on this evening event at the Wilson home.
The Amazing Tale of the Butterfly-Unicorn-Ballerina-Princess and the Giant, Creeping Land Squid
Bedtime. It is the most important time in my day. At bedtime, I tuck four children into the appropriate beds in the appropriate rooms. They never think they’re tired. Their eyes are bright and their young minds crackle with surprising thoughts on the day, the future, the nature of the universe. At bedtime, I let go of four imaginations, and they wander alone through the darkness, unchaperoned, unguided, shaping visions for themselves, resting in warmth or wandering into terror.
Every night, I feel like I’m launching paper boats into an ocean. I point my children as best I can. I flavor their minds with subjects and characters and songs and dances and blessings. And when they are warm and spilling over with joy, I let go, and I wait for the morning to hear of their adventures.
This is why we sing about drunken sailors and what to do with them, about how some folks say a man is made out of mud, about lost Scottish love and the walls of Jerusalem. This is why I tell them stories.
Read the rest here.
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Muchificaciously funnifying.
That was a fun read. What lucky kids you have!
I gave the article to my mother. She loved it! She’s reading Dandelion Fire right now. I liked the article as well. Thank you Heather!
Still waiting on our public library to order Dandelion Fire; I’m first on the list when it comes in. And I echo Franci…what lucky kids you have! Thanks for posting so that we could share in the fun.
That was a great essay. Dad and Mom got us ‘Dandelion Fire’ last week and I read it in about two days. It was even better than ‘100 Cupboards.’