Freckled Feet

Have I ever mentioned that my husband has a zany imagination? I mean off the wall, nutty stuff comes out of his head sometimes! During our dating years, we always spent the summers apart while I worked at a camp in Massachusetts and he went home to Ohio for various jobs. While separated the letters and phone calls would fly back and forth. But I loved the letters! So often they were silly drawings or tapes of him reading books to me or completely random letters filled with ridiculous things.

Occasionally I still get letters from him that bring out his silly side. But more often than not we are more serious now that we're parents and have the weight of responsibility on our shoulders.

But just recently, he has started to pass on his quirky imagination to our children. Every week or so, as we sit around the dinner table, he will begin a sentence. Perhaps something as simple as, "Billy went with his mom to the barber shop on Saturday. When they entered the shop, Billy was astonished to see ..." and then he'll look at the child to his right and let them fill in the blank. He plays the part of the narrator while we all take turns filling in the blanks with silly and often ridiculous phrases.

We laugh and giggle and snort and snicker as the story gets wilder and wilder. And before we are ready the story is done. But what I love is that my man has used his own funny imagination to teach our kids to use theirs all while having a fun family time.

Our latest story was about a Buckeye nut and a lonely letter in a mailbox. The letter had large freckled feet! Of all things. But, that's what my sweet girl came up with. She is her Daddy's girl. And now, whenever we need a laugh, we mention the freckled feet and the whole family bursts out laughing.

A good imagination is a sad thing to waste! If you've been blessed with one, use it!