The Canadas
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Summer 2005
Will Turns 4, Becomes Superhero Feature Modified August 12, 2005 |
Crunch Time
Some things, of course, we could not put off. In January, Essie turned 7, and we celebrated with a “story” party. Will turned 4 in June and officially became a superhero. We continued homeschooling them both, and learned along with them as we studied the Underground Railroad, the Lewis and Clark expedition, the American Revolution, math, micro-organisms, minerals, and more. I continued to teach English at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Lisa worked a full-time job at Training and Development Associates in Laurinburg. We spent most of the year close to our renovation project, but managed to work in a few short getaways, including a trip to the North Carolina mountains to see Thomas the Tank Engine, as well as one slightly longer summer trip to Indiana, where Essie and Will spent three very active weeks visiting museums, playing, and just enjoying life with their aunts, cousins, and grandparents. |
We
took a sabbatical from our normal lives—as much as possible anyway—to
complete a project that had begun back in 2002 when we bought the historic
Stewart-Malloy House outside Laurinburg, North Carolina.Essie’s “Storybook” Birthday
January 2005: Like every child, Essie loves
birthdays. For her seventh
birthday, she decided she wanted something very special. After quite a bit of deliberation, she
finally settled on a theme for her party.
An avid reader, as well as an aspiring thespian, she came up with the
idea of a “story” party. She
invited five of her girlfriends and asked each to bring a homemade or store-bought
book. As children inevitably do
when given the opportunity, these girls rose to the occasion. One wrote and illustrated a book about
the seasons, and another created a delightful book about the party itself. Two sisters made Essie a memory book
featuring photographs of a weekend our families had spent together at the
beach. Even a girl who was still
learning to read made a cute book of her own. Lisa did her part, as well, making a cake in the shape of a
book, and the girls spent the afternoon playing and enjoying the books they had
made.
We’re In!
July 2005: When we bought a 200-year-old farmhouse outside Laurinburg and planned to renovate it, some people thought we were crazy. They were wrong. In fact, our sanity only deteriorated after we began working on the house. After a few million hours spent scraping paint, tearing out about 3 30-foot dumpsters’ worth of debris, washing away decades’ worth of dirt, patching holes in the floors and ceilings, installing new ceilings and walls on framing that was about as square as a child’s pillow fort, and babysitting subcontractors who apparently had better things to do than work for us, Lisa and I were ready to move into a different house, one with padded walls and white-jacketed caretakers.
Perhaps I should back up a bit. As many of our friends, colleagues, and family members already know, we bought the Stewart-Malloy house back at the end of 2002 and, in 2003, cleaned up the overgrown grounds and barn. Last summer, in 2004, we hired a carpenter with experience working on historic houses and began the renovation in earnest. As Noah—yes, that really is our carpenter’s name—gradually unwrapped the giant gift we had given ourselves, it yielded its own brand of surprises: termite damage, a twisted beam, and enough rot to keep him busy for a long time. Then there were the many things that needed to be removed—the foundation of an old chimney, a giant bathtub, a hideous utility room someone had hashed together at some point in the house’s history—and the things that had to be replaced: the porch floor, a handrail, the kitchen floor, dozens of clapboards and floorboards, the entire electrical system, the walls in three rooms, all of the plumbing pipes, and the entire kitchen and bathroom. A lot can happen in two centuries, especially when it stands empty or is occupied by squatters who don’t maintain it.
By spring 2005, we still had a lot of work to do and not much time to do it, since our loan and patience were running out, and we had miraculously found a buyer for our current house just four days after putting it on the market. The heat was on. Between the middle of April and June 16, the closing date on the sale of our downtown house, we had to finish hanging and mudding drywall, repair numerous holes in the floors and ceilings, and install two ceilings, a kitchen subfloor, tile in the laundry room, a half-dozen baseboards, and untold gallons of primer and paint on walls and ceilings—not to mention move out of our old house, continue working our day jobs, and raise two small children. Now short on funds, we let our carpenter go and set out to complete the job with our own eight hands—Essie and Will did their share, as well—along with the help of high school and college students we had hired. With two weeks to go, two aunts took Essie and Will up to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to stay with them so that Lisa and I could work even more. Somehow, we managed to finish the job—80 percent of it anyway—and satisfy the building inspector, but not before I spent a 95-degree afternoon crawling through an attic space 25 feet long and 2 ½ feet high, installing insulation over one room in the house. Now that’s sweat equity.
It’s summer 2005—2 ½ years after we bought the house and some 200 years after it was built—and we’re in. More importantly, we’re happy, and we really are sane—most of the time.
Will Turns 4, Becomes Superhero
June
2005: Is there a boy alive who does not long to be a superhero? It all must have started a long time
ago, when some adults—or perhaps their four-year-old sons—came up with the idea
of Hercules, Odysseus, Beowulf, Lancelot, all those guys with mountains of
muscles, bravery, and grit. Now we
have Superman, Batman, and Spider-man, along with a host of other
larger-than-life figures visiting us via comic books, movies, action figures,
and underpants. It is with some
pride that I discuss this subject, as I only recently learned that I am indeed
the father of both Batman and Spider-man.
Although as a child myself I read a comic book or two and even created
the lesser-known figure of Super Dachshund—modeled after our family dog,
mild-mannered Ginger—I have to confess that I was never entirely conversant
with the early development and maturation of superheroes. Now I realize that an apparently
average boy, upon arriving at the age of 4, can suddenly and inexplicably
graduate to superhero status.
While still 3 years old, Will followed in the footsteps of a few billion other small boys, and developed a deep and abiding fascination with everything super. When he turned 4, his friends and relatives showered him with superhero paraphernalia: a Spider-man mask and web-shooter, a Batman mask and cape, and more. The day after his birthday party, which he celebrated with some Superfriends at a pizza restaurant, he was in full costume and was coming to the aid of various toy figures in his bedroom. The transformation was complete.
Life Without Television
July
2005: When we moved into our old house, we didn’t have to go back in
time. Indeed, we did bring along
our computers, and we put in a modern kitchen for Lisa’s catering
business. When it came to
television, however, we decided to go without it. In fact, neither Lisa nor I have watched much television for
years, but Essie and Will still tended to gravitate toward it in the morning
and in the afternoon when they got tired.
When we moved, we didn’t set up the television, and they hardly missed
it. Will has mentioned it only
once or twice, and I have not heard Essie mention it at all. Now, instead of flipping on the
television, they pick up objects they find lying around the house—plenty of
those as we continue to put things away—and make up stories with them or just
play with them. One day, they got
a hold of one or two of Lisa’s punch bowls and started mixing up water and soap
to form their own version of soup or perfume, pretending they were food
vendors. Another day, Essie
dressed up in my tie and a ballcap, picked up a backgammon game, and announced
she was off to the “Wild West.” She and Will marched around the house singing, “I’m HEADed
off to the WILD West.” Already an
avid reader, Essie has become a voracious one, going through one of her Pony
Pals chapter books on the average of one or two a day. In addition to stimulating Essie’s and
Will’s imaginations and relationship with each other, life without television
has made for a more peaceful household.
There is no longer background noise from the TV; instead, we usually
hear only the pleasant sounds of Es and Will playing—“Batman to the rescue!” “I
wonder what the queen will say when she sees the bat.”—or just welcome
quiet. Life without television is
wonderful.
“A Day Out With Thomas”
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July 2005: Essie and Will had a rare opportunity to meet a celebrity when he was passing through the North Carolina mountains. Thomas the Tank Engine, a character from children’s books and television shows, made an appearance in Dillsboro and gave rides to his fans. “A Day Out with Thomas” also featured storytelling, visits with Sir Topham Hat, a giant inflatable slide, a jumper, toy trains, and a petting zoo—in short, several hours’ worth of fun for two Thomas fans. We packed in more fun on our way to and from the event, making stops at the
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina Arboretum, Lake Lure, and Discovery Place. |
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Canadas’ Most Wanted |
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Name: Esprit Canada Quotation: “Will’s giving the cat a free opera!” |
Name: Will Canada Quotation: “Essie, you want to watch me fly
downstairs?” |
Criminal History:
1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | Winter 2002 |
Summer
2002