Kids have a interesting way of seeing things. I often enjoy seeing the world through their eyes because it provides a perspective I often forget I also once had. To kids, everything is an adventure and every thing they can’t see is a hidden world. Sure as adults we may see a locked door and wonder what is beyond the threshold. However, we also know the general physical boundaries of the building we are in and so don’t see entire worlds housed behind what is most likely a small closet. Although we may understand the constraints of physical space, we are still left to wonder what exactly is behind the door and our imaginations still fill in the blanks.

Our basement has a crawl space. Growing up, the crawl space in my parents house was dirt and I often imagined there were strange monsters living up there waiting for me to be left in the basement alone. However, the crawl space in my house has a poured concrete floor and has about four feet of height clearance. This makes for a great place to store lots of things but is a challenge since it is up four feet from the ground. In order to segregate off this storage area we have a double door between the furnace and crawl space from the play area of the basement. My kids can safely play all day while we rearranged the space and put more stuff up there for later use.

We were getting ready to put away some stuff for the summer when my wife said I should put a few things in the crawl space. My oldest son who was five at the time got really excited and asked if he could help. Since things were mostly organized I didn’t see the harm in taking him up there. I let him know in a little while we would put the outdoor stuff away. He was elated to say the least. He danced around the yard and kept telling mommy “I get to go in the crawl space with daddy!” As is usual with kids, he asked me every three minutes if I was ready to go in the crawl space until he finally declared “I know what is in there!”

I was a bit surprised and confused. Looking at him I said “all the stuff were aren’t using right now is down there”, but he shook his head no. “Daddy, I know the secret of the crawl space. I know what you are hiding down there.” The whole time he said this his little body shook with excitement. I asked him what he thought I was hiding down there to which he responded “Gold and ice cream, but I won’t tell mommy about those. But that isn’t all that is down there.” I tried to keep from laughing, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. The thought of having gold hidden away in my basement made me blurt out “could you show me where the gold is, I could use it.” I was again assured that my secret was was safe with him as long as I gave him some of the ice cream, perhaps it was even golden ice cream. There was no arguing with him on this point so I asked what else he thought I had down there.

Cordless phones were a great invention because they allowed you to get things done while you talk on the phone. One day my in-laws had called to ask me if I could find a microwave they had given us so a friend could use it. I talked to my father-in-law on the phone while I searched and eventually found the microwave. My son pulled me down so we were looking eye to eye and took a deep breath. He gauged my attention and when he decided I was listening closely he said “there is a tunnel to grandma’s house down there and you go there all the time while we play in the basement.” I fell to my knees on the grass and tried as hard as I could to keep from bursting out in laughter. Of all the things he could have come up with, I had never seen this one coming. His eyes burned into mine with an excitement so great I knew it would crush him if I laughed and I began to worry about how  crushed he would be when he didn’t find any of the three things down there he expected to find.

I told him it was time to go down there and see just what was hiding in the crawl space and he eagerly agreed. I lifted him up onto the floor of the crawl space and climbed in after him. We made our way to the back where he indicated we would find the tunnel and all we found was a wall. He looked a bit puzzled, but did not give up so easily. He made his way as best he could around the outer wall and when he didn’t find the tunnel he asked me where the hidden door was. Needless to say he wasn’t disappointed there was not tunnel, in fact it made him plot how we would dig a tunnel to grandma’s house in the future. He then set out to find the gold and ice cream, but again was left with only a bunch of things from our house we hadn’t recently needed. He took my face in his hands and asked me where I was hiding the treasure. As I told him I didn’t have either down in the basement he looked a little disappointed. “I do know we have ice cream in the freezer,” I said, “and maybe we can have some with mommy and your brother.” His face relaxed and he started laughing. “OK daddy, you can keep your treasurer hidden for now. Someday I WILL find it!”

My kids inspire me each day not just to see what is in front of me, but to look beyond the physical constraints of our space and explore new worlds. I keep this story close in my mind when I am told something doesn’t exist or cant be done, and instead of giving up I look for new possibilities. Maybe someday we will find that hidden gold, or maybe the treasure is in the adventure itself.