My son David, 5 years old, has an imagination that won’t quit. His current obsession is super heroes.  David even came up with his own superhero a few weeks ago, “Show Man.”  Unfortunately, Show Man has not reappeared for a while.  I was hoping for some really cool tricks from the new guy.

Yesterday, one of our friends from church handed David a bag with three new superhero costumes, Batman, Spiderman and a Power Ranger.  We don’t have cable so we know nothing about the Power Rangers.  David doesn’t care.  What he doesn’t know, he’ll make up.

David wanted a mask for the Batman costume.  His first idea was for us to get some plastic and cut it in the shape of a mask and then have Daddy paint it black.  We explained to him that we don’t have plastic laying around waiting to be turned into masks.  Undaunted, David turned to construction paper. Last night, I drew, as best I could, a batman shaped mask for him with silver sharpie on black construction paper.  David cut it out, we added strings so he could attach it to his face and I thought that was the end of the story.

Nope.

This morning he woke up and declared that he had “lost” his mask.  “I’m sorry, Mom.  I lost the mask and we’ll have to make a new one.”  Now, “we” is usually, “me” because David doesn’t quit have the fine motor skills to draw a mask as well as he would like.  I think he does a great job, but the end result rarely fits his “vision.” And not only were we going to replace the first mask (which I later saw on the floor in the hallway upstairs) but this new mask was to have a front *and* a back.

The problem with David and his projects is that he doesn’t think through his vision completely before he enlists his assistants.  So, as his chief assistant, I often go through several drafts before arriving at the real thing.  

“But, but, but Mom: a)it’s too big, b)it’s too small, c)it’s not fat enough, d)the eyes are in the wrong place, e)(insert superhero here) doesn’t have (insert facial feature here), are a few of the usual complaints.”

Needless to say, we should own stock in construction paper companies.  And we should apologies to forests everywhere for robbing them of so many trees.  If only David would channel his dogged determinism into learning his math facts….And, of course, I get frustrated because I like to have a project completed.  I can’t stand things that drag on and on and on, constant revisions, etc. This is probably one of the reasons I have so many unfinished stories laying around.

But this is my David.  He has a vision and he must see it through to the end.  And, while it frustrates me greatly at times, I do love him for it.  And, I suppose, if I keep my eyes and heart open, I might just learn something from David’s attitude.

Sorry this isn’t a meaningful Holy Week reflection.  Motherhood is it’s own asceticism.  Or, so I’ve heard.

God bless!  It’s raining here, and I think I heard the trees whispering that they were glad for it!!