Monday, June 24, 2013

Monday Memories - Good Night

Cali, Atlas, me, Zeph, Ande

It might have been funny if it hadn't been for Harry Potter.

My cousin had nine children without enough bedrooms.  One child needed some privacy and space so they created a little fort-bedroom for him by making a bed in the food storage room over barrels of wheat.  I thought their space solution was ingenious.  I knew I would have liked sleeping in a fort as a kid.

Several years later we were in the same dilemma.  Our kids needed space.  I suggested we turn a closet into Ande's bedroom; after all a covered wagon box isn't much bigger than a closet and Laura Ingalls Wilder's whole family lived in one for months.  So we folded Ande's clothes, organized her belongings into little baskets on the shelf, and put several blankets on the floor to make a soft bed, it was almost like the princess and the pea.  We even closed it off with a shower curtain of her choosing -- Winnie the Pooh.

We moved Ande into the closet and she happily slept there for months.  Well, at least I thought she was happy in her hole.   One day we had the missionaries over for dinner.  Cali was embarrassed that they might find out we kept a child in the closet and dismantled Ande's room in ten minutes.  If Ande hadn't been ashamed of her living space before, she certainly was when she saw Cali wanted it kept secret.  Suddenly the solution was no longer ingenious, it was idiotic.

When we found out Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept Harry in a closet it made it worse. "Really," we heard people wonder, "what kind of a person keeps a kid in a closet?" And even though Ande had had a real bed in a real room for a few years by then, we still couldn't talk about her old sleeping arrangements.  It made Ande mad that Cali hadn't shared her bedroom to begin with.  It made Abe mad because Ande was mad.  It made Cali mad that I even thought of the idea.  It made Ty mad because I tried to make him feel guilty for requesting space in the first place.  Calvin was the only one that wasn't mad and that was because he didn't even remember Ande slept in the closet.  I'm telling you, it was a sore spot for a few years, a real blight on the family memory.

But as you can see in the picture above that we took yesterday, that's all behind us now.  Cali has forgiven me and Ande has forgiven Cali.  And wouldn't you know, all of our kids like sharing bedrooms now that they're married.

It's as Ma Ingalls always said, "All's well that ends well."



9 comments:

Jill said...

So funny! Space is definitely an issue in our little house so I'm often wishing we had another level with a few more bedrooms so the kids could have their own rooms and so we weren't quite so cramped. But other times I think it's good that we're so cozy with each other. I just don't know.

Ande said...

That Ma Ingells. What a wise woman. I forgot that was such an issue. I think the best part of sleeping in the closet was getting to watch TV with Dad at night and the glow in the dark sea animals Abe had given me for Christmas that year. The worst part was that dark scary hole at my feet.

Amie said...

Seriously?! You are amazing. The story is so funny and your telling of it is perfect.

When we moved into this house and the kids finally got their own rooms James asked me if I was sad I still had to share with dad....

Very cute picture of you guys.

Michelle said...

Well you know we only have one kid at the moment. Though she does have a bedroom in our home, I need more than one hand to count how many times our only child has been placed in a closet to sleep... some of those nights in this past month. :) Just wait til we have our fourth kid....

Janae said...

Ha ha!! This made me laugh. I can see the same exact scenario happening at my house! Thats funny. :)

melanie said...

You ladies look fabulous! And I love that those two baby boys are going to be best of friends.

Calvin's part of the story made me laugh. You are a great storyteller.

Julie said...

I love how you tell stories. The girls turned out so well and it's probably a good thing that Calvin has selective memory! Right now Claire has a mattress on the floor in the office and a little cubby for her dresser. We offered to put her under the stairs but she wasn't having it. I could have made it cute! It's funny what embarrasses kids that adults think is ingenious
!

Deidra said...

We had a large closet under our stairs in our first apartment that we referred to as "Harry's room." Sadly, no kids got to bunk there, just an overload of wedding gifts.

Becky said...

You have such a knack for storytelling! I laughed out loud at the end. Families can be so much fun. :-)

P.S. that is a picture worth framing of you three lovely ladies!

P.P.S. I have thoroughly enjoyed catching up in your blog the last couple days. My life is richer because you share yours...