Secret forts

Since I wrote last, winter came. All the trees dropped all their leaves, and now I have only three more classes before Thanksgiving. Three. I see the boys in the afternoon on Monday and Wednesdays, which means that today they just left. I see them in the mornings too, for some one-on-one time--Eli comes Tuesdays and Joe on Thursdays--but I'm going to be alone tomorrow (no Joe) because I have to get work done.

It's been great to see them this week. I had them all weekend and we went to Drew's birthday party in Endicott, and the boys played and played. We found a rotted mouse corpse in the garden hose--much discussion about that. Personally, it nearly made me THROW UP to see it slither out of the dark hose. Bleh. But then we went to see The Incredibles, a new Pixar movie (Steve Jobs, who runs Apple Computer also owns Pixar, so I like Pixar). The movie was fun: bright, fast, funny, sort of conservative in its message, which is fine. Joe, Drew, Eli and Jackson all loved it. Jacqueline did too, and she sat in front of me, mesmerized.

I saw the boys this weekend, when they began their "forts." These forts are like small treehouses in the attic, constructed out of boxes, pillows, sleeping bags and everything else. They both have one, but Joe has gone crazy over making his. He even has a pad of blank paper, a pad of lined paper, a cup with pens and pencils, a cactus (!) and a vase ("Look, Dad, I decorated it!). Tonight we set up the stereo that I found on the side of the road and he has radio Disney. He is in heaven, and said, "Hey, Dad, why don't you sit down for a minute and talk to me?" I did, too, and he showed me all the parts to his fort. It's great to see him so PROUD.

Eli, however, has put his efforts into other things. He taught me to do karate (the three punches, blocks, and kicks). He's very fast and very nimble, a lot more than I am. He was a good teacher, and I had to say "Yes, Sensi" or "No, Sensi" when he spoke to me. The key thing about karate is *discipline*. Eli also drew on a large chalkboard I found in the attic. Last night it was a still life: grapes, bananas, and all sorts of things. But his good work in these other areas means that he didn't have much time for his own fort. Tonight, as I was wiring up Joe's stereo, he suddenly felt that his fort was dumb in comparison to Joe's. There were some tears, and he said that he felt that Joe was better at a lot of things. We talked a little; I told him that my brother used to feel just he same way when he was younger. And Joe was really kind. He said that Eli was better than he at art and was more creative, too. Joe added also that Eli was better at karate and was much stronger. I told Eli that it was up to him to feel better, not up to Joe to make him feel better, but soon he did feel better, and when I wasn't looking wrote on the large chalkboard the following message:

THANK YOU!

LOVE, ELI

And then made waited on the landing for a good long time before we saw it, and so it occured to me: the one thing that Eli is especially good at is being grateful and happy. That is a very special fort all to itself.

Dad on Wednesday night.