Send all his mail to Master B. R. Green, The Cupboard Under the Stairs...

by teresa

After pulling a few Christmas boxes and the tree from under the stairs I peeked in with my flashlight. It is a really big and empty space. So once Ben came home I showed him the "cupboard under the stairs" and so it began. His attempt to set up a man cave, complete with tv, a deck of cards and one of his sisters old quilts as a floor covering. He invited his friend Joe over and the two of them swept, vacuumed and de-cobwebbed the whole space. They even tried to hook up playstation under there only to realize the little old tv I allowed Ben to bring in from the garage hasn't the necessary hookup for such things. "That's okay mom", he said...""just toss me the Uno cards instead." And then it happened....one of my children having electricity free fun (sans the reading light clipped to the wall plugged to an extension chord from the hallway). There was laughter and clubhouse names talked about. He even called over next door and invited the cousins. They all crawled in there (you must be 4foot or under to be able to crawl in the door through the back of the closet comfortably) and enjoyed a parentless party. I did get summoned once to bring cheezits and cider, but other than that they were on their own. The party broke at bedtime with secret whispers and promises of doing this again every single day!
I peeked in the next morning after the kids went to school to asses the damage. There was none. It was cleaned and straightened. Ready for the next days adventure. With all the giggling and squealing I thought they may have brought some board games or nintendo ds' in there...but no. There was just that one pack of card sitting on a "shelf" Ben had made. It's like it is a different world when kids enter. Magical and exciting. A sort of Narnia entrance right here in my coat closet. Oh, to be young again....