sandbox.

You sit...covered in dirt and loving every minute of it.
The sand between your fingers feels like tiny particles of magic, making your dreams come to life.
You work on, building your little masterpiece taking risks with design and calculation. Parts fall, but you don't mind. It's just another handful of sand, and everything is fixed. Finishing touches complete, you admire your handiwork and prepare to present . Only to hear the shouts, "Stop playing, you are late for dinner. Get inside...now!"

Hurrying past the screen door, you enter another world. But, your work of art is still in your mind. Waiting for the opportunity to speak, anxious to share. Only to find out, things are tough today. Everyone is chatting nonsense...it sounds like a foreign language. Anger fills the plates at the table. Bills, debt, work, love...or lack of it.

Wait, love? Work? You speak up.

"I worked today. Hard. I finished my castle...we are going to live in it someday. I promise. OK?"

The silence is deadly.

What did you say?

Those who tower over you dismiss your work...as playing. "Wait until you are in the real world when you are big." They bark. Like dogs, soured by beatings day in and day out. They don't know better. Tethered to their masters on leashes they've fashioned for themselves.

It's hard to know what to think.

But, that's the point.

You don't need to know what to think. Because you feel it. It's already inside of you. The joy. Playing or not, you built a fortress to store your dreams for safe keeping. No small feat. Age doesn't make those around you wise...in fact, what they are teaching you is a lesson in ignorance, little one.

What they see...is a mirror of what is lost in their lives. I take it back...not lost, misplaced. For passion and happiness live inside, at all times-waiting to be unleashed. They just need to sit down beside you to figure it out. You are quite the teacher, you know.

So show them, architect of innocence. Show them what it's like to have the hope of a child again. Because growing up, is overrated. Living your dreams while in your waking state, is true fulfillment. And you, are the master builder of your destiny... nobody can take that away. Step inside the sandbox, and feel what "work" is supposed to be like. Doing what you love, as the hours fly by. Someday the dinner call will be only an encouraging reminder to rest your happy soul. Work is only work, if you refuse to allow it to be playtime. It's in your hands, just like those tiny bits of sand. Now take a deep breath...smile...and build. Not because you have to. But because it's in your soul. Share your vision with the world...I look forward to living in your castle. :-)

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