If there is a place on this planet where discoveries are no longer made, I hope I never see it. The world is vast and full of light. Humankind is naturally a curious animal. Today I spent the bulk of my time with my sister and her three sons; Noah, Nathan and Luke.
This morning we drove to Phoenix. Shortly after lunch we walked through the front doors of the Arizona Science Center. Lego was in the title of the main exhibit. Has anything since the invention of the Lego even come close?
When I was a boy, I had Legos. When I was a teenager I still played with Legos, using my younger siblings as a front. If they haven’t been turned over to the mad cleaning bug my mother sometimes gets while sifting through the dusty confines in the furnace room of my family home, I still have a great box of Legos somewhere. My favorite type were the castle ones.
A science center would be a fascinating place without the presence of people. Being there with boys aged 10, 6 and 5 multiplies the fascination around a given apparatus by three. Every switch, knob, light, pedal, screen, sound, and block of wood take on a magnetic dimension.
I was drawn, because they were drawn. They were drawn because they are precious and full of energy for investigations which most likely will not net them greater wealth. They follow passion.
I was able to spend time with each of the boys, as well as some with my sister Kara. She is such a fine mother, her boys have no idea how many good ways of living they are being taught, and how much love it truly takes to care as much as she does.
Kara’s children are her masterpieces, each one. I hope to have the kind of rapport with my kids one day that she has with hers.
At the end of the day we drove back to Tucson. Kara made nachos in the oven and we all snacked on four kinds of pop-corn from a holiday tin. Katie, Noah, Nathan, Luke and I began what is certain to be an epic game of Risk. Luke is showing great promise in that game as well. After Daniel got home from work, the two youngest boys went to bed and the rest of us sat on the couches and watched Captain America. Life is like God’s finest writing.
albaniacalling 