Putting Up The Umbrella

It's very dramatic when two people come together to work something out.  ~Mister Rogers

This umbrella came with one of our new outdoor tables. It's too small to be functional

either against rain or sun. And it was often in our way, so I removed it and left it

in the sand pit for the kids to discover.

The urge to make and build seems to be an almost universal human characteristic. It goes way beyond meeting our need for survival and seems to be the expression of some deep-rooted part of being human.

It doesn't open smoothly; the hinges that connect the stretchers to the ribs tend

to double back on themselves and lock up.

It isn't surprising then that these acts of creation should be such a large part of children's play.

And then once you get it operating properly, you have to use a lot of strength to hold

it open while you insert the little pin into one of the holes in the center post.

But we don't have to understand all of someone else's creative efforts.

And manipulating the pin is made extra challenging because the pin is attached to

a short chain, shorter than it needs to be in my opinion.

What's important is that we communicate our respect for their attempts to express what's inside themselves.

But together they managed it.

~Mister Rogers