Do You Remember Building Forts as a Kid?

Do you remember building forts as a kid?

I loved forts. Usually they consisted of a blanket clothes-pinned to the chain-link fence in our backyard. Like a cat, I also enjoyed large boxes. Who cares about the new dryer, give me the box!

Any kind of fort would do. It was the ability to make a cozy place outside of, or separate from…the typical house.

In hindsight, I know now it was a symptom of wanderlust. And it was a symptom of tapping into the ancient humans’ ability to make a temporary, tidy, sheltered place for themselves from whatever may be handy.

Feeling a little down this weekend, I hustled out to my ‘fort’, cleverly disguised as a tiny Scamp camper, just to sit. I felt better in there! It’s grounding or something. Every time, I forget how much I like that thing until I get back in it. It’s not huge, in fact it’s quite small as far as campers go – but it’s pretty fort-like, maybe that’s why I like it so much. It’s still and quiet.

This is the table in bed-form. Pretty cozy and fort-like, I think.

In my case, my wanderlust is terminal. As I got older I’m afraid it didn’t get any better. I had a car, a 70’s model large car that I joked could sleep six comfortably. I strung curtains in the back (for privacy) and had a battery-powered small television. A pattern was developing. Now I had a rolling fort. A little off-topic side note: that fort had a 351 v8 (Ford) motor in her and to this day, I still have a soft spot for 350/351 v8s. I did kid (read: teen) things to that car and people laughed at me for it but I don’t care, I had fun with it.

I used to tell my parents I was “going to get a burger”…and come back 4 hours later. “Ugh! Where were you”? they’d ask. They knew never to send me out if they wanted to eat, too. Just…wandering, a hopeless traveler.

Front bunk, by the door. I recycled my youngest’s “Marty Moose” crib quilt for that bunk because it was so dang cute.

It’s very difficult for a person with terminal wanderlust to stay in one place, especially terminal migratory wanderlust. (The irrepressible urge to madly flee when the temperature drops.) Restlessness and boredom set in quickly. I would eventually grow up (chronologically anyhow) in fact to be in professional transportation.

But…I still really like forts! Fort-unately (hahaha sorry) I have two forts now. The Scamp and the van. Neither is brand-new; both have marks of use over the years, but I like them that way. They’re both just barely broken in. And I even made a nap-fort out of Hhrbie; drop the seats and add a cot mattress and *presto*.

People call them cars, camper and vans but secretly, they’re forts!