We do not have property with our own private tree house on it, but in our neighborhood, there is a “secret” tree house. My kids discovered it a couple years ago, and while you would think they are too big for tree houses (since they are all in high school)—the tree house is a very popular socializing place…
The tree house is actually located on a corner of a private school lot behind our street. It is somewhat secluded and must have been someone’s special place prior to our neighborhood being subdivided and turned into a modern community. Perhaps an old farm house sat on the land and the huge tree where the still safe and sturdy tree house sits was in someone’s backyard? Regardless, my city-dwelling kids have made good use of this abandoned and forgotten treasure.
In my own childhood, growing up in the country, we had more than one grand tree house. One was built by my dad, and others we built ourselves as we grew older and handier with tools and lumber. There is something so marvelous and mysterious about a tree house, don’t you think? What is it about the independence of being able to climb up into a tree and sit amidst the leaves and the bark? Even if the platform is only a few feet off the ground, it is still a “secret, wondrous, place” where imagination rules. And, despite all of my mother’s warnings, I don’t remember anyone ever “falling out of the tree house and cracking their head open.” According to my mother, someone was always in danger of cracking their head open from one activity or another we thought was fun.
So, when my eldest daughter headed off with a friend last weekend to do literature and Spanish homework in the tree house, I was a little envious. I think I’d like to do some of my work in a tree house once in a while (even if I am forty!)
See Also: The Possibilities of a Tent and Never Too Old for Bath Toys