“I need to check on the fort,” L said a few weeks ago as I unbuckled him from the car seat. “Is it finished?” asked his brother, hopping down from the car. “It’s mostly finished,” I said. “ We still need to accessorize. Let’s go take a look.” Through pine needles, we walked back to the edge of the woods and climbed the ladder to what is basically a six-foot-high, freestanding deck. We take in the 360 degree view that includes a neighbor’s pond, which we didn’t know existed until now. I was excited for them to see it, not only because of the time and expense that had been put into it, but because I had already imagined the games and campouts soon to follow on the platform. (A tent is one of the accessories on our list.) “This is nice,” L said, running to each corner for a look. “Paw-Paw did a good job.”  “He did,” I said, my heart filling up. “That’s so nice of you to say. You should tell him that.” “But we need cup holders,” T interrupted and stretched up onto his tiptoes to see a...

We are building a tree fort in the backyard for the little people in our family. When I say “we,” I mean my husband, John, is doing all the planning and labor. I am providing a second set of hands when needed, along with encouragement and opinions.  His first step was to have the boys draw a picture of the kind of tree fort they would like. I’m not sure if he was procrastinating or truly wanting suggestions, but I think he promised someone a punching bag. At this point, posts are secured into the ground with cement and the basic framing is up. Now he needs decking, which was the reason for our recent trip to the hardware store. On the way, we discussed how to get up to and down from the platform.       “I may go with stairs,” John announced.           “Wouldn’t a ladder be easier? And maybe a rope. A tree fort needs a rope hanging from somewhere,” I said.          " But someone could fall from the ladder.” ...