Adventure Girl

When Bell was tiny Jack called her Danger Girl.  She was a climber, never afraid of anything except ghosts and lobsters ( a story in itself ), always curiously poking and prodding.   There were things she didn't like, but she was always up for a new day of exploring and doing her own stunts.

I am not sure when she and Jack started the bone and bug collections, but she was probably 3.  It began with pretty beetles and one of each type of butterfly. It soon expanded to every creepy crawly, every flying, stinging thing they could catch.  Then came the bones.  A favorite is an armadillo toe liberated from a found skeleton.  Bell once hauled an entire cow skeleton to the house, wagon load by wagon load.  There are small rodent skulls.  Bird bones.  I think the idea is that the bones get studied to understand the mechanics of the animals, both for interests of a future scientist and a future artist.  I am not repulsed, but those aren't my thing.

Somewhere along the way, curiosity has morphed a once danger prone child into an adventure girl.  Some days the adventure is simply picking up little mussel shells on the lake.  It might be planting seeds or building a toad house in the flower bed.  In snow, the adventure is sledding, but she and I also following the twisty, intricate paths of rabbits through the woods to see where they go.  The bugs and bones are still hot, but there is a microscope now, so we can look at things we find.  We don't do as many dangerous things, but more exploring things.

I love the idea of pretty dresses, of my pink and blond mess asleep in little girl pjs, and of her sweetly helping make cookies.  I like those girly ideas that we get to live.  I am thankful for a lack of interest in fashion, boys, and silly teenager things little girls adopt.

This week, Jack has been clearing out trees damaged from the ice storms two years ago.  Bell is with him and calls the area her Cat Kingdom since her kitties roam there.  Bell climbs the fallen trees, finds an owl pellet, messes with grape vines, and reigns over her kingdom until supper.  It isn't a grand adventure with hidden treasure, but it is a natural sort of adventure that I hope she does not outgrow.