It was so simple. Mom said it was a hat and I proudly wore it to Holly Beach.
Yes, the week before it had sat on the porch, upside down, holding a plant. But that plant had finally decided it would be simpler to move on to the next plane than to endure another day with a cat that believed it was a porta-potty.
Mom wasn't lying. She was creative. And so was I back then.
We knew that the limits of the world couldn't restrain our imaginations. Pillows and blankets made the best forts. Invisible tea in chipped plastic cups was the same thing as high tea with the queen. An old shot glass was an elegant soft boiled egg holder. And a water heater closet was this writer's office.
And so, today, as the pandemic makes me feel like a captive, I am taking a book from the page of Mom. I am not trapped. I am cloistered from the world in a castle filled with wild animals, cluttered with the things I love best, and protected from the hostile things - emotions and contagions - beyond my moat.
Here's hoping your castle has room for a little childish thinking today. I think it could help us all.