CS Lewis wrote about an overwhelming sense of joy and wonder he experienced as a young boy while gazing at a terrarium, and how that feeling created in him a longing that lasted throughout his lifetime.

For me, it was a fort.  It was the summer between 4th and 5th grade, and a bunch of kids at church camp decided we would create the best fort ever made by mankind in the woods behind the tabernacle.  We spent hours making bedrooms, a dining area, a bathroom, even porches and paths.  We discussed every detail of our survival in the wild.  What would we eat?  Who would our leader be?  For an entire afternoon I was completely swept away into Fort World, in what seemed like a rational new reality without boundaries.  I have never forgotten that feeling.

I can still get it every once in awhile, but only when I'm absorbed in a great book.  Sometimes at 2am when I can't fight sleep any longer, I'll put a book down, blink my bleary eyes and try to remember who I am in the real world and why there is someone snoring next to me in bed.

Do you remember when your imagination could whisk you away from everything real and concrete?

Enter the 5th grade Treasure Island treasure hunt, scheduled for this Friday.  And a mom who remembers the wonder of Fort World and who is prone to go over the top.  Forget following a few hastily scribbled clues around the classroom -- this event needs to sweep my precious 5th grader out of this world.  She will be dressed as a pirate; let's throw in gold coins that must be placed in their own special slots, and clues printed in a "piratey" font on parchment paper with ripped edges (aka grocery bags ripped into pieces).  Clues that go far beyond, "Go to the water fountain," but instead, "The Kraken would love it here, you might think; But if he's angry you'll end up in the 'drink.'"  For just a moment, I want my daughter to forget that she is just a 5th grader in this familiar world -- but a pirate wench searching foreign lands for hidden treasure with her mateys.  I want her to be swept away and taste the bug that will forever lure her to well-written fiction.

It's fine with me that the entire school think I have an overactive imagination and make much of little things.  I assure you, it's a longing put in place by a Creator who could have thought inside the box those first six days but instead chose to put us in a glorious world of wonder and joy, to be delighted by both terrariums and stories of pirates and treasure.

So put on your pirate outfit, my fifth grade Faith!  Sail the seven seas and get a taste of what heaven is surely like -- full of wonder, joy, adventure and unimagined treasure.

Love,

Your Over-the-Top, Crazy Pirate Mom