Dirt pile for all

Dirt pile for allThere’s a boy outside our house right now climbing on the same dirt pile Jakey likes to climb on.

Everything about his body language says he is having a blast.  He seems to be on a walk with his grandmother.  Something in her body language says that she doesn’t love him climbing my dirt pile, but I imagine it’s mostly because our garage door is open like somebody’s home.  It might feel intrusive that she’s letting him play in our front yard.

It doesn’t feel intrusive to me.

It feels like the most natural thing for a kid to do.  If Jakey wasn’t napping, I’d take him out to play with this kid.

Both our neighbor girls have climbed on the dirt pile.  It calls to them.  When I look at it, I mostly see an out-of-place pile beside an unfinished landscaping project.  Once, I climbed piles just like this.  Wore out the knees on my blue jeans, wore out the patches my mom sewed in, and filled my cuffs with soil and sand.Worm

Now that I have a son, I can see it both ways.  Through his eyes—quite like those of my youth—and through my boring grownup eyes.

Some might call the pile an attractive nuisance (and for the record, I’d rather no one sued me).  But, I think of it as the most attractive feature in our yard.  Not only can you climb the pile, run down it, or slide down it on your bottom.  You can dig for earthworms, too.  They are many and they wriggle in a small hand like a tiny magical beast.

My son loves this dirt pile.

I hesitate to think of getting rid of it, though it will eventually become part of my yard again once the steps and path are complete.

For now, climb on.

2 thoughts on “Dirt pile for all”

  1. This reminded me of my own dirt pile as a child. It was at a new development by my house in NY. It was huge and quickly grew many flowery weeds. This was my “garden”. I had an ancient coal scuttle into which I put that day’s harvest. Then I took it back to the pretend chuck wagon I ran and cooked up some vittles! Dirt piles are very important.

    1. Oh, Catherine, this is a fantastic story! I love that you incorporated a pretend chuck wagon into this venture, as well! As a kid, I played on a dirt hill near my grandparents’ house with G.I. Joes. It was epic.

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