The Big Blue Ball

This adorable little boy was the only boy in our small family. He was plagued with two older sisters. It's hard to be the youngest (or so I've been told by Ammon, the youngest of six). It's harder to be the youngest with only older sisters to play with. Luckily for Nick, Sera was a tom boy, and she was closer in age to him than I was. But regardless, Nick spent a lot of time amusing himself. He loved many things, but one of his favorite toys was a big blue ball.

This is not Nick, but it very well could have been. 

He loved his ball. But most of the time there was no one to bounce his ball back to him. That didn't deter Nick. He was creative. He came up with a solution. The solution? The stairs! Brilliant. He could bounce the ball up the stairs and then it would roll right back to him where he could again hit it back up the stairs. This pastime allowed him hours of fun. However, there was one hiccup in this game: his oldest sister. Yes, that would be me. You see my bedroom wall happened to also be the wall that bordered the stairwell. Now when I remember this game I remember that it was always played on Sunday afternoon when I was trying to catch a nap. I was a teenager and was always busy with school, sports, choir, band, and having a social life. Thus my nights were often not as filled with sleep as they could have been. So I valued my Sunday nap as a precious opportunity to gear up for the next week. My family remembers that I was always yelling at Nick for playing his innocent game. I feel this is a little harsh considering that they all love their Sunday nap as well and none of them had to listen to the bouncing of a ball against their wall.

The long and short of it all is that I hated Nick's ball. I hated his game. I didn't want to listen to the noise. Why couldn't he just find something else and somewhere else to do it? But alas, that darling little boy has grown into something of a giant and he no longer has a big blue ball that he bounces against walls.

Now I often wish I would have taken more time to bounce Nick's ball back to him. But never fear, there is a new little boy in the family. And my brother and my father are not about to let him live his life without the pleasure of knowing how to have fun with his toys. Behold:

The stairs in my home. That lovely blanket is there acting as the wall to Ammon and my bedroom. By the time Cormac is able to throw a ball around we hope to have a real wall there (notice the words "we hope," it is slow going around here with our projects). As you can see, the situation is very much the same as it was in my brother's time. I am sure that he will not allow Cormac to go unknowing of his Uncle Nick's favorite game.

And conspiring with him is my dad. Who recently sent a little gift for his grandson.

In the words of my mother, "You know that ball is just going to get bigger over time." Yes, I'm sure I'll know it better than anyone else.