I so enjoy spending time with L.D. We made play-dough this afternoon, and then we sat at the table and drew maps of some made-up world (his nation and my nation are allies, of course). I haven’t made a map in so long, I’d forgotten how much fun it is. There are no rules, really; you can create any lands, peoples, creatures, cultures your mind can conceive.
But there’s so much my mind misses!
Once, I wrote about a Derek Webb song that challenged my musical insight. It boasted an Fminor directly after an Fmajor. Awkward?–perhaps at first. But the realization that I’d never played those chords alongside one another before opened a new realm to me. It wasn’t just about an Fmajor and an Fminor; it was the awareness that there were countless chord progressions I’d never even tried. Suddenly, the possibilities were limitless.
L.D. played an Fminor on me tonight.
“Aunt Sarah,” he whispered (we were whispering, you see, so no one else could hear about the trap doors and the secret underground tunnel that my nation was only to use at dire need), “where are you going to put your trade routes?”
Really?
Trade routes?
Where, indeed! I’m not too proud to admit that in the last five years of creating worlds and maps (and sometimes the stories to go along with them), trade routes have never occurred to me. Of course it’s important!–why have I never thought about it?
What an Fminor!
(And yes, that is a purple argyle sock island.)
